Sailor Moon: the Paths of Destiny
by Prince Neptune
Summary: The next episode has been posted. Usagi deals with what she did. It hurts almost too much for her to bear. Maybe the other Senshi can help her...? Please R&R. Enjoy!
1. the Arrival

Hello, my name is Jeff and you have made the gracious choice of reading my fanfic. First, before reading my fanfic, I think you should know that I have introduced a new character. I know, I know, it seems a little unnecessary, and most people that have tried this have failed miserably, but please, don't judge me before you've read a little, O.K.? I have modeled him after myself. He is many things that I am, and many things I wish to be. So, please, don't dismiss him right off the bat. After a while, and a little explanation of the back story, you'll grow to like him well enough. 

You should also know that this is the first in line of many stories (or episodes in a season) and you should be ready for a lot of reading, because I can put a lot into a story and I intend to have at least 30 episodes by the time I'm done.

Two last things: Since I first got to know Sailor Moon by seeing the dubbed anime, I consider Ami-chan to have a slight british accent. Nothing big, but something that some people might not agree upon. I don't own anything of, about, or involving Sailor Moon, except Prince Neptune himself because he's me. Everything else belong to someone else. Enjoy!

Episode 1:

The Arrival

It was one of the most beautiful September mornings ever. The Sun was slowly rising and bathing everything in a reddish glow. The leaves on the trees were just begging to change color, and the whole city was just beginning its day. Jeff Kaiou was one of those people looking forward to a new day, and he wondered what it had in store for him. Standing almost two meters tall, with short brown hair and blue-grey eyes that seemed cold and distant, he wasn't the type to have people around him or have a long conversation. He usually preferred the company of his own thoughts and the challenge of a good mystery. 

On this morning, he was looking into the brightening sky and wondering what it would be like at this new high school. After spending a couple years in the States as an exchange student, he was glad to be back in Japan and with his sister. It would felt good to talk to her again, instead of just writing letters. She was always so calm and thoughtful. He felt at peace when he was with what little family he had left.

Since he was looking into the vast blue sky, and not down at his feet, he didn't notice the strange object that rolled out from under a bush, and as a result, he stepped right on it, lost his balance, and ended up right on his ass. Wincing, he got up, muttering various obscenities, and then looked down to see what had caused him such an embarrassment. His anger disappeared when he saw that the cause of his unscheduled trip was a good-sized, perfectly oval shaped, red ruby. Laughing like an idiot, he pocketed the strange find and walked on towards school. 'Well,' he thought, 'if this is how my day starts, I wonder what else will happen to me by the end of it.'

***********

In the depths of space, a small craft races through the endless void. Inside, three beings and their minions lick their wounds after being chased across half the galaxy.

"Helm! Have we come upon the designated coordinates, yet?"

"Yes, sir. Third planet in the Sol system. 'Earth'."

"Excellent. This will be an excellent place to rest and repair our ship and ourselves." Short, green, and scaly, this individual would never have been called 'attractive' by anyone. He appeared as one of the classic 'martians' of old earth movies. He turned to his two comrades, equal in rank, status, and basic appearance, who were occupying themselves with other important matters. 

"My scanners show a good amount of energy on this planet. Most remarkable, however, is a small group of beings located within one of their cites, if you could call such primitive gatherings cities..."

"Well," said the third, "don't just trail off. Tell us about them!"

"_O.K._," continued the second, "It appears that exactly ten of these _humans_," she said the word with a mix of unfamiliarity and disgust, "possess an amazing amount of potential."

"How fortunate." said the first, "Well, I guess we'll just have to send a little 'package' down to test out our potential power reserves." He smiled. The second merely nodded at her instruments. The third grinned an evil grin and turned to bark orders into the comlink. 'Yes,' thought the first, 'this planet will prove to be most useful.'

***********

"Ooo! I hate school! Why can't they just teach us what we need faster, or something? I wish we could get out of here."

The distinctive whine from Usagi Tsukino filled the air and, of course, grabbed everyone's attention. Most people who knew Usagi looked away because they knew that this was the first of many outcries and tried to ignore them from here on out. Kind, beautiful, and emotional to a fault, Usagi is not the kind of person anyone would describe as intelligent or hungry for knowledge.

"Usagi, you know that you have to complete high school and then go on to college to get a good job and earn a good living. Just try to bear it for a few more years."

This light voice with a light british accent belongs to Ami Mizuno, the blue haired genius of the Sailor Senshi. Her mind, unlike her friend's, is always thirsting for knowledge and always working. She knew her efforts to reassure her friend were pointless, but she had to try anyway.

"I know that, but I just wish I didn't have to anyway..."

All Makoto could do was just laugh at her friend's constant moaning over schoolwork because she couldn't let her know that she agreed because that would only encourage her. She knew that academia wasn't her strong suit, cooking and sheer strength lie more in that direction, but she at least felt that school was necessary. 

"Oh, Usagi, just try a little harder and it will all work out. I promise."

"Thanks, Makoto."

Usagi wondered where her friends found the energy and determination to go through with school day after day. Even ChibiUsa, who had returned to the twentieth century, found some way to deal with it. ChibiUsa had returned under the pretense of not being trained enough as a Sailor Senshi and coming back to complete her training. Everyone knew this was only a story to get back to Mamoru, and more importantly, Usagi.

To get her mind off of schoolwork and ChibiUsa, Usagi looked around the area here, around the front doors to the school building to see if anyone she knew was standing here. She didn't see anyone she knew, but she did see this one young man with storm grey eyes that seemed cold, distant, and a complete stranger, but somehow, vaguely familiar.

"Come on, Usagi! Class is starting!" Makoto grabbed her arm as the bell had just finished ringing and they were off and running.

"Hey, wait up, Makoto! You're going to tear my arm off!"

Usagi only got a split second to grab her books before being dragged through the hallways, but she did have enough time to glance back in the direction of that strange guy and she saw Ami staring at him in the weirdest way. If she didn't know any better, she would have said that Ami, of all people, was falling in love with him. She didn't have time for any further investigation because they had already rounded a corner into a classroom. Panting, Makoto and Usagi took they're seats. Usagi asked if Makoto had seen how Ami was acting, but when Makoto answered no, she let it drop and said it was probably nothing.

***********

Finally, Jeff saw his destination ahead of him. His new school. It looked nice enough. He checked his schedule for his homeroom. Ah, room 316. As he walked across the distance to the door, he noticed three very attractive girls walking in a group. He allowed himself a good look at each of them and decided that probably the best looking one of the three was the short blue haired one. As he walked closer, he saw the faces of the girls and recognized the tall one as Makoto, an old friend of his. He knew her briefly when their families had lived next door to each other. That was for only about a year, or so, then they had moved away. He remembered playing House with her when they weren't even tall enough to reach the counter-top, yet. He remembered it fondly, and wondered why it felt like centuries ago. She was one of the few friends that he did have, and he wanted to catch up with her. He hadn't had a chance to talk with her for years, especially since he had spent most of those in the States, including a few years, when Mugen burned to the ground. He made a mental note to find her later and talk with her. He didn't want to disturb her when she was with her friends, even if the girl with that delightful accent was kind of cute. She also seemed very intelligent to him and somehow familiar. 'Nah, I've never seen her. I'd just better get to class and find Makoto later,' he thought, 'I wonder what that girl's name is....'

***********

"All right! Lunchtime! Hurry up, guys, I'm hungry!"

"Oh, calm down Usagi! The cafeteria will still be there, so just be patient," Ami chided.

"Yeah, Usagi. Even I'm not in that big of a rush!"

"I noticed that, Minako. Are you sick, or just not hungry?"

"Actually," she leans a little closer to her friend and whispers, "see those two guys over there? I've been watching them ever since class ended. Cute, huh?" The classic blonde, Minako was _always _on the lookout for someone to be her special guy, even though she hasn't found one suitable suitor, yet.

"Where? Where are they!" Makoto head shot up at the mention of possible boyfriends in the area.

"Right over there, Makoto. Don't you see them?"

"Oh, I see them now. Wow, they are cute!"

"Hey Ami, you gotta see these guys!", as Usagi looked back to her friend, She saw the same guy she saw earlier, with the storm grey eyes look at her and her friends for an instant, then look away. 

Ami saw her friend's confused look. "What's a matter, Usagi? You look worried."

"No, Ami. I'm all right. I'll be fine." Usagi sounded more lost than usual, but she quickly brightened up, "Now, when are we going to get to the cafeteria? I'm starved!"

They all quickly got to the lunchroom for Usagi's sake and ate a leisurely lunch. Despite all of the distractions of cute guys and good food, though. She still wasn't able to shake the feeling that that guy with the storm grey eyes was very important and very familiar somehow.

***********

After lunch, the girls were very full, thanks to Makoto's world-famous, triple-decker BLT's, and ready to go back to class. Well, maybe not _ready_ to go back, but certainly not completely opposed to the thought.

"Hey guys, I'll be right back. I have to go use the ladies room." Makoto excused herself and hurried off. On her way, just as she was rounding a corner, she heard a deep voice coming from just behind her.

"Long time, no see, Makoto."

She whirled around, ready to defend herself if need be, and was instantly relieved to see a familiar, and welcome face appear.

"Jeff! I'm surprised to see you! Where have you been?"

He smiled, "I've been around. It's nice to see you again, too."

Being easily as tall as Jeff, Makoto could have looked him right in the eye, but she never really could for very long. The smile on his face never did anything to warm the ice in his eyes. However, she had known him for almost all of her life, and she knew the smile to be a sign of immense emotion and she was able to forget about all of the coldness in his stare.

"So, what's up? Does your sister go here, too? Do you like this school? Where have you been all this time?"

"Whoa, Makoto. One question at a time," he chuckled softly, "Yes, Michiru is attending this school, after all, she can't go to Mugen anymore, can she? Yes, I do like this school, so far, and up until a few weeks ago, I've been living in the States with a family that agreed to let me live with them as an exchange student. Anything else?"

"Well, um, no, I guess." As usual, he didn't exactly give a complete answer, but he did give enough information to make it seem like he did.

"That's good, because I have a question of my own."

"Oh, all right. Shoot."

"Uh," he seemed a little uncomfortable asking the question, "what is your friend's name? You know, the one with the accent?"

"Accent? Oh! You mean Ami!" She saw him look like he was pondering the name, as if to see if he liked it or not. He seemed pleased with it after a few seconds and Makoto was able to put two and two together.

"OH MY GOD! You like her don't you!?"

"What? Me? No, not really, I guess." The words were not particularly that convincing.

"Don't you worry, Jeff. I'll take care of everything!" And she ran off.

Jeff called after her, "No, don't. You don't have to..." And in his heart, he found that he really didn't mind the help at all.

***********

Joining up with the rest of her friends, Makoto quickly fell in line next to Ami. 

"We were wondering where you were. Class is about to start and we're going to be late!" Makoto said. She really didn't want to get to class, but she didn't want to be late, either.

"Oh, well, I'm here now and, Ami, I need to tell you something." And with that, she yanked her off to one side before Ami even had a chance to protest. Makoto made sure that no one was listening and then told Ami her news.

"I need to ask you a favor."

"Sure. Whatever you need." Ami smiled politely, because she was sure it would be something like getting help with homework, or something like that.

"I need you to be in front of the Fountain after school today, all right?"

"Uh, sure, Makoto. Do you mind me asking why?"

"Oh, don't worry. Trust me."

***********

A few hours later, in front of the fountain, Ami waited for Makoto. She was still as confused as ever. She gave this situation a few hours thought and she came up with nothing. She trusted Makoto and she knew that she would have a reason for being so secretive. She still didn't like it. It seemed too ominous.

"Hi, Ami!" Makoto and Usagi were walking toward her and both had greeted her, almost in unison.

"Hi, guys. Makoto, will you tell me why I'm here now?"

"Yeah, Makoto," said Usagi, "I want to know, too. What's the big secret?"

"You'll see. I just want you to meet someone Ami, that's all."

"Who is it?" Usagi asked.

"He's just an old friend of mine. Oh, here he comes." Makoto dragged Usagi off around a corner so that Ami could be left alone with this new arrival.

"Makoto? He? Who is Ami meeting?" whispered Usagi.

"Well, if you must know, an old friend of mine is going to this school, and he said that he had an interest in our little bookworm."

"Oh, wow! How cool! So tell me, what's he like?"

"Well, he's intelligent, has a good sense of humor. He's as tall as I am with blue-grey eyes..."

At that point, Usagi cut Makoto off.

"Grey eyes?"

"Yes, grey. They always seem a little cold, but there is true warmth underneath. Oh, there he is now."

Around the corner, they saw the aforementioned man with grey eyes approach the fountain. He stopped short when he saw Ami standing there, looking at him curiously. He felt his face grow a little warm at the sight of her and the thought of how beautiful she looked. Quickly, he composed himself and walked toward her.

"Um, hi. My name is Jeff and I was wondering if you saw a mutual friend of ours. Her name is Makoto."

"Oh, Makoto. Yes, I saw her. She just left."

The gears clicked in Jeff's head and realization swept over him.

"Ohhhhhhhh........"

He took another look at the _real_ person that he was supposed to meet and saw her staring back at him. She looked so serene, so familiar somehow. Those deep blue eyes seem like pools a man could fall into..........

Ami looked at this person that she had just met and had a mystery on her mind. She had saw him earlier at the main entrance of the school, but that would not account for the almost overwhelming sense of familiarity for this completely strange stranger. Perhaps a little light conversation with this enigma would help clear things up.

"Please, stay.."

"I think Makoto..."

They both spoke at once. They cut off quickly and laughed that nervous kind of laugh that comes up at awkward moments. Perhaps sitting down would help? They both sat down on the edge of the fountain, but it didn't seem to help much. After a few more awkward moments, Jeff happened to be the one to speak. His words came out with such stuttering and unsureness that it was comical to the two girls watching from their hiding place. To Ami, however, it seemed so pathetic that it was kind of cute in it's way. Even those grey eyes were adding to the affect. They seemed so gentle.

"You know," these were the strongest most definite words said by Jeff during the entire conversation, "why don't we go somewhere other than here? I bet it would seem a lot more comfortable somewhere else."

"Yes, I think so, too. Where did you have in mind?"

The place that he had in mind happened to be a park in the middle of Tokyo in the shadow of a great big office building. This place held some precious memories for Ami. She knew the old groundskeeper that worked here and how hard he fought to save his flowers. 'It looks like he succeeded,' she thought.

Strolling along the lake's edge (there had been a small artificial pond built there as a token of kindness to the groundskeeper), they found a bench and sat down. Makoto and Usagi, still following them, had picked up Rei, Minako, Luna, Artemis, Diana, and ChibiUsa along the way. They were all hidden among the various trees and shrubbery. Being a tiny grey kitten, and therefore, the smallest, Diana had to struggle to get a good view of the impromptu entertainment. When she finally did get a good look at Ami's companion she blurted out something she immediately regretted.

"Hey, I know him!"

"Really?" asked Luna, the black cat that was to be Diana's mother in the future, "Who is he then?"

"Um....I'm not supposed to tell you."

"You really should watch your mouth, Diana. You know he said not to tell anyone about him. Oops!" ChibiUsa's childlike innocence got the best of her. In all of her nine years, she hasn't really grasped the finer points of tact or keeping secrets. Of course, you have to keep in mind that Usagi will be her mother in the future, so it's only expected that 'like mother, like daughter'.

"ChibiUsa, Diana, who is that person?" Artemis prodded. 

"Yeah, are you trying to tell me that I don't know something about my old friend over there?" said Makoto.

"Nope. I'm not going to tell you. He specifically told us _not_ to tell you about him _at all_." When ChibiUsa made up her mind, it was futile to get her to do anything else, so the girls decided to just let events unfold normally. They would find out soon enough. Jeff had seemed to loosen up on the walk over here. His speech wasn't as shaky as it was before, which is a shame, because Ami found it kind of cute that a guy would lose his tongue over her.

"They look so perfect together, don't you think?" whispered Minako.

"Oh, yeah, they do. You know, I just noticed something." said Makoto. All of the other girls replied in a unison whisper of "What?"

Makoto replied, "She's had more guy's fall for her than any one of us. I mean, what's she got that we don't?" Luna and Artemis exchanged exasperated glances and sighed in unison.

"Oh, Makoto," Rei said, trying to calm her friend, "Don't get bitter about it. Feel happy for her that she just might have a new boyfriend here." Inside, Rei was furious. How could she, the most beautiful girl in existence, get passed over for someone else! It is _impossible_. The thing that she didn't know was that all of the other girls were having similar thoughts, but they were pleased that Ami is going to have someone to call her own, nonetheless. 

***********

"Hmm.....that's strange."

"What? What is it?"

"It seems that seven of the ten _humans_ with great power on this planet have clustered at one point."

The third being, a Caretaker, as they called themselves, took charge, "Put it on the main viewer."

On the screen, the image popped up of the girls sneaking around to watch the romantic couple on the park bench.

"What are they all doing?" said the third.

"Hmm....they seem to be taking great interest in the courting rituals of that young couple over there. Interesting."

"This is most fortunate." said the first. The second and third Caretakers both looked at him incredulously. 

"What?" they both said in unison.

"This is the perfect chance to test them. Send the test subject."

A low-level officer showed that he received the command and carried it out.

***********

"Well, I, uh, I guess I never looked at it that way before, I guess.." O.K., so maybe he hadn't loosened up all that much, but at least it was _some_ improvement.

"It always helps to have a new perspective, Jeff. It's like having a new set of eyes." Speaking of which, she noticed how much warmth and feeling showed in his eyes. They had turned from ominous storm clouds to gentle mists. They were the most lovely eyes, to her. It was a pity that she couldn't make the moment last longer, because right then and there the Caretaker's 'test subject' had showed up and he had made quite a loud and explosive entrance.

The girls hidden in and among the foliage acted quickly,

"Moon Eternal Power...Make Up!"

"Mars Crystal Power...Make Up!"

"Jupiter Crystal Power...Make Up!"

"Venus Crystal Power...Make Up!"

"Moon Crisis Power...Make Up!"

but not quickly enough. 

The creature moved sinuously and deadly quick. As it lunged to strike at Ami, the only thing Jeff could do was to follow the overwhelming urge, as if he was psychically connected to something, to throw himself in the way. Colliding with the creature, they bounced off of each other and landed a few feet apart. It rose to strike again. His entire body ached from the impact and he thought that he was done for, but the only thing that stop the deadly blow from destroying him was something hovering between him and it, something that had appeared there in a flash of ruby light. It took a second for Jeff to realize what it was, but he soon recognized it to be the gem he had found earlier that morning. The oddest thing was that he swore that he could hear it speak to him.

Moving as if by it's own accord, his left hand moved up to grasp the gem and as soon as it did, he was permeated with understanding. He could hear the thoughts of the crystal in his head. It was as if a dam had burst and a piercing red light shone in, around and through him. He knew what to do.

"NEPTUNE POWER!!"

The energy within him grew and encompassed his body. A few things about his appearance changed, but everything inside him was irrevocably altered. He found this new change in looks quite pleasing. He was dressed in a tux, a different cut than Mamoru's ('Mamoru? Oh, yeah. The prince from Earth,' he remembered.), with no top hat, but it was all in various shades of blue, save for his shirt, which was white. He also found that he held a trident in one hand. It was a beautiful thing, with a blue shaft and a gold head and cap. That odd gem was now embedded up near the hilt of the weapon. He hefted it in his hand. It felt right and good, so he used it. He took one step forward and fired.

"Neptune..."

The energy built up...

"Trident..."

Glowing and surging at the head of the weapon...

"ATTACK_!!!_"

The fierce, white-hot energy burst forth like an animal being let loose on waiting prey. The deadly beam struck the strange being with all of it's force behind it. For a moment, the Scouts thought that the creature looked as if it was going to survive the blow, but as soon as the thought was completed, the evil being fell.

For a moment, all the girls could do was stare in complete confusion at what they had thought to be just a normal boy from earth. He was looking back at them, not in confused, but with total and complete relief and pure joy.

"You don't know how good it is to see all of you." His joyful expression became a little skewed. "Except you, little one. I don't seem to remember knowing you, at all."

ChibiUsa felt a little insulted that he should forget her name, but then she remembered that he hadn't met her yet. She was about to speak, but she was interrupted by the vile creature, that apparently _had_ survived the blast.

Usagi knew that was her cue, but for the first time in a long while, she had no idea what she was supposed to do. The Eternal Tier had been broken by Galaxia, and she had no other weapons.

The blood drained from Usagi's face. What was she supposed to do now? She was saved from having to make a decision by a most predictable source. A red rose flew down and struck the earth in front of the creature, preventing it from reaching the Scouts for a moment.

"Sailor Moon! Use the Crystal, for it's power is infinite." The cavalry had arrived. Tuxedo Kamen had made his timely appearance to give the appropriate advice and strategic advantage, just like he always had.

"Right." She took the powerful gem from the brooch on her chest. It was Neptune's turn to be confused. 'The damn thing is _pink_!' he thought, 'What is it doing like that?' Another thought occurred to him. 'Wait...those aren't the costumes I remember, especially the Princess' 

Usagi then invoked the appropriate words (she hoped!) to activate the Crystal.

"Moon Crystal Power!" 

She was correct, and her energy coursed through the Crystal and, in an amplified state, struck the monster dead-on. In the pure energy of a pure heart, the threat quickly vanished.

"Well done, Princess." It was Neptune. He still looked slightly confused, but you could easily miss that. Mostly, he looked proud of Usagi for killing the beast with such skill and, underneath that, hurt because none of them remembered him.

"How do you...no, first answer my first question. Who are you?" Usagi was still the most confused. Sailor Mercury was certainly intrigued. She had the oddest feeling that she knew him very well and that that feeling had very much to do with her agreeing to come here with him. Tuxedo Kamen looked smug, like he knew something that the others didn't.

"Well, uh, perhaps this would be best." He showed what 'this' he meant by holding up the trident. "Just look towards the Ruby."

Brilliant red light shone forth from the gem imbedded in the trident. Seven separate beams lanced out to touch each of the foreheads of the Scouts and feline friends before him. ChibiUsa and Diana were untouched, because there were no memories to unlock, and two of the beams stretched on into the distance, but weaker than the one's for the Scouts, because of the distance they stretched out toward Michiru and Haruka. Tuxedo Kamen was untouched and still with that smug, knowing smile. He knew what was happening. It was really a shame, though, he was missing a real good trip. For the Scouts, a flood of memory came back filling in gaps that they never noticed before. There was a week on the Moon where they all first met the young Prince during the Festival of the Royal Protector, a few birthday celebrations for various people which they all had attended, and more assorted memories of friendship that were surprising, but true, nonetheless. For Ami, however, there was something more. She remembered that she and Prince Neptune loved each other with their whole heart and soul. 'I can't believe that I forgot.' she thought. The sheer amount of emotion used in that one particular thought was overwhelming and she began to weep. She cried out and ran to him. He turned and relief painted his face. Locked in a lovers' embrace, the world seemed forgotten. All that existed was the moment.

***********

"It's so cute, I think I'm gonna be sick." The Caretakers, high in orbit, observed the results of their experiment.

"Oh, I think it's wonderful, two people finding each other after a long time apart." said the second.

"Do quiet down you two." said the first. "We have work to do considering these _things_ that are in our way."

"Quite right," said the third, "We have to drain them as soon as possible."

"Agreed." said the second. They all stood and walked to the conference room to begin their plans.


	2. Strange Dreams

Hi, Jeff, here, and this is the second episode of my fanfic. Um, I don't own Sailor Moon or any of the characters except for the Caretakers and Prince Neptune because I _am_ Prince Neptune. Everything else about Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi. Don't sue. Please. I can't afford it.

Episode 2:

Strange Dreams

Too dark. Can't see. What's that, or rather, what are those? 

Minako walked through a nightmarish landscape of featureless, flat land surrounded by darkness. The only distinguishable objects were a row of variously decorated mirrors on her right ending in one last mirror facing her. 

The first was very plain. Composed of straight lines and right angles, it was blue and in it, she did not she her reflection, but a pair of figures. Sailor Mercury. She was fighting someone. Upon closer inspection, the assailant was a duplicate of the defender. A wash of water struck the mirror, from the real Ami, or the doppelganger, she couldn't tell, and the image disappeared. 

The next mirror seemed to be composed of flames wrought from iron. Inside she saw a similar scene, but this time, it was Rei. The fight seemed pretty even, until one of the combatants tripped and the other took a rather unfair advantage of the mistake. Instead of waiting for the outcome, she moved on. 

Next, the mirror made from leaves and branches and slightly taller than the last two, she saw Sailor Jupiter. She saw the both of them landing good shots and taking them equally as well. 'That makes sense,' she thought, 'If they are duplicate of each other, then they would have to be equally good fighters.' She was surprised at the indifference of the thought, but only for a moment. 

The fourth mirror showed the newest member of the team, Prince Neptune, although he was very deep inside the mirror. The only reasons she could tell it was him was by the distinctive trident shapes the two silhouettes were using and the storm clouds that made the frame of the mirror. 

Next, inside a very pretty pink mirror, stood Usagi. The two Sailor Moons stared at each other, as if unsure how to handle this kind of thing. 'I don't blame her.' thought Venus. Right beside this mirror, a tall, solid black, modern-looking thing of metal and glass, stood Tuxedo Kamen's. In this one, Venus saw a magnificent display of hand-to-hand close combat, though she couldn't tell who would win. 

In the next two, one made of white-capped waves, one of what seemed to be crystallized wind, she saw Haruka and Michiru fighting their evil twins. Again, she could not predict the outcome, and for some reason, this realization annoyed her, but she had no clue why. 

Finally, she came to the last mirror, which happened to be facing her as she approached. 'Odd,' she thought, 'this seems to be a plain old mirror.' Which was true. She saw her own reflection staring back at her. It was a beautiful mirror, though, made of gold with flowing lines and graceful corners. She reached up to scratch her head and the reflection imitated her.....a split second too late. The shock on her face was only matched by the evil grin on her duplicate as it reached out to grab her.

She woke up. Her blankets were tangled around her and her pajamas were soaked with sweat. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and getting out of bed, she decided that a nice, long, hot shower would probably be the best thing to do right now.

"Minako, is something wrong?"

"Oh, its nothing, Artemis. Go back to sleep."

Artemis shrugged and did so and didn't bother her again on the subject.

***********

Up on the Caretaker's ship, the crew was carefully being examined to select the ones to infect the subjects on the Earth, so that the raw emotional force could be extracted.

"Well," commented the first, "who shall be our first volunteer?"

The second looked at her list and motioned sharply at one of the beings before her. The thing that stepped forward was big and thorny. Truly, he had spikes and pointy bits protruding out of his body everywhere. Not even by the Caretaker's standards was this creature even remotely good-looking.

"Perfect." growled the third. "He will be an excellent soldier."

The second only nodded and thought silently to herself.

"Very well then," said the first, "we shall send him down immediately."

***********

'Another glorious day,' Jeff thought, 'and I get to spend it all with her.' He looked to his right and drank in the sight of her. She looked at him and smiled. He realized that he would do anything for that smile. He was just about to say so when, completely out of nowhere, the biggest, ugliest, nastiest creature he had ever seen popped out from, well, nowhere and snarled. It had big green teeth and the foulest breath that anyone could have imagined possible. He barely had time to react when it fired. He braced himself for impact, but, too late, he realized that the shot wasn't aimed for him. He spun around in horror and saw the one thing he never wanted to. Ami was lying on the ground. She didn't appear to be moving. He looked back to the creature. He wanted to hurt it twice as bad as it had hurt her, but it was already gone. He quickly forgot about it and rushed to his fallen beloved. He put a hand to her wrist. Good, there's a pulse. He realized that he was fighting back tears of relief and wiped his eyes. He gently tried to wake her, and she responded immediately, as if she had only been sleeping.

"I'm so glad you're all right!" he gushed. His smile almost split his face in two. She smiled at him.

"Thank you." As he tried to help her up, she shrugged off his arm to get up under her own power. He thought nothing of it, it was just a sign of her hurt pride at not being able to defend herself, that's all. She turned all serious after that.

"We'd best tell the Scouts about this."

"Yes, of course, Ami. Let's get to Rei's temple."

***********

At the temple, everyone arrived for the emergency meeting on time, even Usagi, which was quite a surprise. As Ami and Jeff told everyone what happened, everyone grew more and more serious.

"Are you sure you're alright, Ami? I'm afraid that monster did something horrible to you that we just haven't figured out yet." Luna's face was a mask of concern. She truly did worry about the Scouts, she still saw them as the vulnerable children that she has seen develop into the young men and women before her.

"Yes, Luna. I'm fine." 

"That's good." There was something that still bothered Luna that she just couldn't put her paw on, though. 'Oh, well,' she thought, 'I'll figure it out later.'

"Luna," Usagi looked oddly curious, "What do you think that thing did to Ami?"

"I don't know, Usagi. I can only assume something diabolically clever and subtle, if anything is happening at all, of course." That answer didn't exactly satisfy Usagi's curiosity, so she decided to take a closer look at her friend. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Blue skirt, light blue stockings, turtleneck, a beautiful brooch fastened at the collar.....aside from the unbelievable frequency of the color blue, nothing much seemed odd about her, just one thing she couldn't put her finger on. She noticed Jeff, standing a few steps away, gazing at her. 'Wow,' she thought, 'I wonder if Mamoru looks at me like that.' Hmm...for the past few days, those two haven't actually _been_ that far apart, even if it is only a few steps. Perhaps they are just finally getting comfortable with each other again. There still seems something is wrong. It seems like it has something to do with the eyes...

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Minako. 

"Hello, earth to Usagi! Wake up, girl!"

"Huh, what? Did I miss something?"

"Yes, of course you did, Usagi." Luna looked her usual annoyed self at Usagi's confusion, "We were just talking about how it would be best to confront our new enemies."

"Oh, right, of course. Well, go on." As they debated, discussed, and deliberated, the slight and subtle changes that were started in motion not to long ago grew and made more apparent results.

***********

"Subject shows 47.8% increase in emotional output." Some random bridge officer read readouts off the screen to the Caretakers at their command posts.

"Not long before our little crop reaches time to harvest." the second mused about her little experiment.

"If you ask me, it's taking to long." The third sat in his chair, squirming like a child who was told to stay still and behave himself.

"Patience my friend. We shall have our resources soon enough," the first was the epitome of calm and tranquility, "Science station, how long until 'harvest'?"

"Showing 50.1% increase. Estimating three earth hours until completion."

"Excellent."

***********

As he watched the fountain, he thought of how beautiful the water was. He thought of how it could destroy mountains, cities, and whole continents with the patience that only water can have. He thought about how necessary it is for life it self to exist. It's dual nature is the very basis of philosophy on Neptune. Even his title and his sister's title, the Storm and the Sea (they, of course, are just two titles of many that royalty has), respectively, come from this very basic and necessary substance. To Preserve and to Destroy. He was able to pull his attention away from the water long enough to see his one True Love approach. She looked stern and cross. He thought, perhaps, she had a bad day, or something, and needed a little cheering up. He rose to greet her and opened his arms to her. She stopped just out of his reach. Puzzled, he lowered his arms.

"I need to tell you something." Ami said. She offered no other information.

"Sure, you can tell me anything." He soon wished he had never said that.

"I don't ever want to see you again."

For a few moments, all he could do was blink. The look on her face was unreadable. He swallowed, found it a little hard to because of the lump growing in his throat, and tried to speak.

"You're just joking, right?" He managed a feeble smile. He would have given anything to hear her speak. It didn't even matter what she would have said. Instead, she just walked away and that hurt the most. He fell to his knees as if begging her to return, but just watched her go. He wanted to yell after her to tell her he was sorry for whatever he had done, or to beg her to come back, but no words came. As she passed out of sight around a corner, he put his head on the ground and cried, wishing that the water, in all it's power, could take him away.

***********

"98.6%, sir. Estimating ten earth minutes to completion."

The first gave the order, "Very good. Prepare the soldier for harvest." 

"He's on his way." The second prepped the collector herself and was quite proud of it.

"It's about time," said the third, "I wanna see this thing actually work."

"100.0%, sir. Project complete."

"Launch."

"Aye, sir."

***********

At Rei's temple, Usagi, Rei (of course), Makoto, Minako, Ami, Luna, Artemis, ChibiUsa, Diana, and Jeff were gathered on the front steps to discuss the threat before them. Ami and Jeff sat on opposite sides of the stairs. No one really was listening to Luna for that very same reason. They were all studying the pair that they thought were inseparable. Jeff looked miserable. He held his head down, his eyelids drooped. He was constantly sniffing and wiping his eyes. He refused to look at or acknowledge anything around him. Ami was the exact opposite. She had her head held high. She was alert and seemingly ready for anything. In fact, the one word Luna could come up with to describe her at that moment, which she didn't share, of course, was 'bitch'. 

"Usagi, did you just hear what I said?"

"Of course I did, Luna."

"Oh really? Well I had just told you that you had fish heads in your hair in that your feet were on fire and you just nodded! Please, Usagi, if you're going to ignore me, just have the good grace to admit it when you're caught."

"Sorry, Luna."

Around the perimeter lurked the collector for this particular mission. It was the same being that had attacked Ami earlier, and he was really just waiting for a signal. His communicator beeped. That's the signal! He burst from his cover hoping to surprise the lot of them. It worked very well, and he had his chance to complete the mission. He took a small transmitter from his belt and pressed the button. Ami, who was sprawled on the ground after Usagi bowled into her trying to run, sat bolt-upright. For a moment, she quivered, and then she screamed an ear-piercing scream and split in two. 

When everyone got a good look, they couldn't believe their own eyes. There were two Ami's. One was Sailor Mercury and one was still Ami. The monster looked a little confused. He wasn't quite sure which one was the solidified hate energy that had been building up to take back to the ship. The two Ami's were now on their feet. The other Ami had transformed into Sailor Mercury and the two were facing off. Dodging and twisting around the other's attacks, neither one landed a single shot. By this time, everyone had transformed, and the Scouts and Prince Neptune were ready to attack, but they had no idea which Ami to shoot. Prince Neptune kept taking aim at one or the other, but always changed his mind when he got a good chance to shoot. Usagi was completely confused. She refused to even act against the two duplicates. The other Scouts were no better. Rei was the only one doing anything, she seemed to be meditating, as if to find an answer. Eventually, Sailor Jupiter thought that she had a good idea.

"Sailor Mercury!" he yelled, "Can you give us a hint as to which one is real?"

"Shoot us both!" they yelled in unison, then glared at each other. They both knew the old 'shoot us both' trick.

The Scouts realized that it was all up to her, now. They could do nothing but watch. The monster was getting impatient as well.

"Hurry up!" he screamed. This, unfortunately, caused the Scouts to turn their attention to him. He wished that he hadn't done that, but he guessed that he would have to deal with them anyway. It was a good thing that he had been equipped very well by the Caretakers and could take these little boys and girls with no problem.

As Neptune turned and looked at this creature, he felt an unnatural rage building inside him. 'You did this to her,' he thought, 'You're going to pay.' With an inarticulate growl, he launched himself at the massive fiend before him. His action caused the others to act as well and they too engaged the enemy. The creature turned out to be well equipped, indeed. He moved like serpent, dodging every attack perfectly, throwing some back, and throwing a few of his own. One by one, he beat his attackers back. Rising, the Scouts held their arms, backs, and various injured body parts and got ready to try again. The monster merely stood there arrogantly and laughed at their pitiful attempts at trying to dispatch the threat. His laughter was cut short when a rose came streaking by, sticking in the ground at the collector's feet.

"I will not let this go on any further. I, Tuxedo Kamen, will protect these girls with everything in my power," in mid-sentence, he paused, smirked, and motioned to something behind the collector, "and a little bit that's not."

"Neptune Deep Submerge!"

"Uranus World Shaking!" 

Hit from behind, the monster alternately shook until half of his systems shut down and gasped for breath until the other half shut down. Barely able to stand, he turned to look for who had attacked him. Backs to him, they arrogantly stood there as if to say that he was not worthy of their presence. He was about to do something to show them how worthy he was, but the two assailants cut him off. They turned to face him.

"I fight for the peace of the world and the purity of life. I am Sailor Neptune!"

"You threaten the tranquility of our lives and that of the entire world. For that, I will destroy you. I am Sailor Uranus!"

Sailor Uranus turned her gaze to Sailor Moon and gave her the signal to act. Usagi, with renewed confidence, stood and hoped that she had enough strength left to use the Crystal. She rose and lifted the Silver Crystal above her head and shouted the words to activate it. For an instant, nothing happened. Usagi thought that she had failed or wasn't strong enough, but then the Crystal flared to life and the monster was vanquished.

"Hello, Moonface." Haruka greeted Sailor Moon with the usual friendly jest.

"Hello, Haruka, Michiru. It's good to see you again."

Michiru turned to Prince Neptune. "Hello, Jeff". 

He managed a grin. "Hi, Sis." The grin faded quickly as he turned his attention back to the twin combatants before him. Still trading blows, and not landing any of them, the two Sailors fought each other until a bizarre sort of unspoken truce was called. They both stared at each other as they caught their breath.

"You'll never win, you know."

"I don't care, just so long as you don't"

"How so?"

"If anything, I mean to take you down with me."

"How noble, I didn't really expect that sort of thing from you, I mean I saw how you treated poor Prince Neptune..."

"Shut up! That wasn't me. I still love him. I always have, you never changed that." Thanks to that one sentence, the Scouts finally knew which Ami was which. Jeff, of course, was incredibly relieved. "You caused me to do something that I never wanted to do and for that, this is what you get." The gift that Ami had intended turned out to be a blow from the very essence of her power. Screaming a battle cry like a talisman before her, she slammed the full force of her energy into her doppelganger and the twisted version of herself vanished. Prince Neptune couldn't contain himself. With a cry that could only be described as infinitely happy and relieved, he ran to his beloved and into her waiting and open arms.

Observing the serene scene, the remainder of the Scouts caught their breath and nursed their painful, but minor, wounds. Usagi, standing next to Mamoru, was quite taken with the Kodak moment in front of her.

"It's so beautiful." She was beginning to cry. She leaned against Mamoru and watched the pair just stand there in each other's arms.

"They really do make a cute couple." said Haruka.

"Yes, just like on the Moon." said Michiru, "Romantic, isn't it?" She leaned up towards Haruka. Just before their lips touched, Usagi stopped watching the two of them. 'Everyone deserves to have a little privacy,' she thought.

Ami and Jeff approached the group. "Well, since we've had quite a day," Jeff's expression was a little chagrinned, "Ami and I are going to find someplace quiet and look at the stars." Ami's almost imperceptible smile implied something else.

"Really? I want to look at the stars, too! Can I come?" ChibiUsa made her presence known. A few looks passed among the group as to who would tell her _why_ she couldn't come and Mamoru decided to handle it. 

"It's almost bed time, kiddo. You should probably get home."

"Oh, I guess you're right. Maybe some other time, guys." The last was directed at Ami and Jeff. Jeff was still trying his damnedest not to laugh at her innocence.

"Right, uh, some other time, ChibiUsa." said Ami. 'Phew. Crisis Averted.' she thought.

***********

As they all went their separate ways to wherever they were going to spend the night, the Caretakers were monitoring their situation. 

"Damn." said the third, "Damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMN! We almost had it!"

"Yes, well, what's past is past. We just have to move on to the next target." The second was also irritated that her plans and devices had not worked, but she didn't let it show. It just wouldn't be professional.

"Right. We'll try again when we are ready. Until then, we have work to do." The voice of reason, the first Caretaker had to keep everything on schedule. This, fortunately, was enough for the third.

"Yes, another day."


	3. Something Special for Makoto

Welcome to episode three. Just so I don't get sued, I don't own Sailor Moon. She, and everything else in this fic, belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Except, of course, for the Caretakers and Prince Neptune. I mean, geez, I should be able to own myself, right? Right?

Episode 3:

Something Special for Makoto

Usagi suppressed a yawn. It was twenty five after two and this last class seemed like it would never end. The teacher kept going on and on about some mathematical constant or another or this or that equation and the clock seemed to move slower and slower. Finally, the bell rang.

"All right!" She tore out of the classroom, ran down the hall to collect Ami and Minako, and they were out the door.

"Really, Usagi. I wish you had waited a few minutes more. I was going to ask Mr. Welkley a few questions about the classwork."

"Ami, I can't believe that you wanted to spend five more minutes in that place." said Minako.

Usagi, of course, agreed, wholeheartedly. "Yeah, really. It's such a beautiful day out, who would want to be in a place like school?"

All Ami could do was sigh and hoped that they would understand the importance of a good education one day.

"In fact," continued Usagi, "It's such a good day, I feel like getting some ice cream."

"Yeah, let's go get some!" When anyone made a comment about sweets, it was hard to get Minako's mind on anything else. So, they dragged Ami to get the ice cream, despite her protests that they really should get to studying, but when they encountered Jeff along the way, she quieted down quickly enough. She thought it was a splendid idea to the both of them to get ice cream and sit in the park together and enjoy the scenery.

Quietly Minako remarked about this to Usagi, "Boy, I sure am glad about having him around. She finally stopped going on about studying."

"Yeah, I know," whispered Usagi, "Hey, I wonder if we can get him to buy the ice cream for us?"

Giggling, they walked on and out of the corner of her eye, Usagi saw Makoto standing by herself near a small coffee bar, staring at something that couldn't be seen from where Usagi was standing. She slipped away from her friends and sneaked over to where Makoto was seemingly in a trance. 'Uh oh. I've seen that look before,' Usagi thought, 'That's the look she gets when she sees someone she likes. I wonder who it is this time.' She looked over Makoto's shoulder into the building. She saw numerous people, but none seemed that remarkable until she saw the guy over in the corner quietly enjoying a cup of coffee. He was tall, well built, with heavily muscled arms and legs and broad shoulders, dressed like someone you would expect to be in a band, but not as grungy as Chad, the burnt-out "rock star" that worked at Rei's temple. 'As always, Makoto has remarkable taste.' Usagi mused. Next to the object of interest for her besotted friend, lies a guitar case. 'Oh, so he _is _a musician. We seem to run into a lot of those.' She remembered that, not only does Chad play the drums and, she thinks, the guitar, Michiru plays the violin, Haruka plays the piano, Jeff plays the saxophone and the guitar, and many of the various negaverse/dark moon/heartsnatcher victims had been into music, as well. She wondered what was so special about this one. Besides the obvious good looks, of course.

"See you later," said the mystery man to a friend of his. He was coming out of the coffee place. Usagi hid around the corner. Makoto didn't even move. She seemed half asleep. She just stared at him. As he moved toward and around her, he almost ran her over because she couldn't move. He just excused himself and kept walking. When he was gone, Usagi walked back to Makoto, expecting some sort of movement.

"Makoto? Are you all right?" she waited. "Makoto?"

"Oh, hi, Usagi." Makoto sounded half asleep and completely out of it.

"Um, who was that?"

"His name is John. Isn't he great?"

"He doesn't look like Freddie, does he?"

Makoto snapped out of it. "What? Of course not! What made you think I thought he looked like Freddie?"

"Oh, nothing. Come on, we're going to go get ice cream. Wanna come?"

"All right! I've been wanting to get a snack all day."

They caught up with their friends and they never suspected that they were being watched from far above. 

***********

"Gentlemen, this is our next target." The three Caretakers sat in conference. The Second was giving a report on the next earthling to obtain energy from. They were all examining a holographic image projected above the table.

"About time. The reserves are quickly depleting. If we don't get something soon to recharge them, we'll have to land the ship."

"Patience, my friend. We'll soon get what we need."

"I hope you're right."

The second waited for the other two to quiet down before continuing. 

"As I was saying, with this target, I have devised a more subtle approach. We will be focusing on the emotion of love. It seems to be particularly strong in this one at this time."

"Good. Proceed with the mission."

"Of course."

***********

At the Ice Cream Shoppe, Usagi and her friends had all got their orders (which they had successfully got Jeff to pay for) and were sitting down to talk about whatever happened to be relevant. Usagi thought that this would be a splendid opportunity to tell everyone about Makoto's new obsession.

"Guess what everyone?" Usagi asked. She got various interested answers and questioning looks, so she continued. "Makoto's got a new crush on someone."

"No, Usagi, don't!" It was too late. Everyone had their attention on her and Usagi.

"Well," Usagi went on as if she didn't just embarrass her friend, "his name is John and he's a musician."

"Really, what's he like?" Minako leaned closer to make sure that she got all of the details.

"He's tall, of course, with a muscular body and an incredibly sexy rock star look."

"Nothing like Chad, I assume."

"Oh, of course not."

The conversation went on between Minako and Usagi while exasperated looks passed between Makoto, Jeff, and Ami. They decided to have a slightly more sedate conversation about how Makoto feels instead of how this 'John' fellow looks.

"So, have you actually ever talked to him?" asked Ami.

"Yeah, if you've never talked to him and found out what he's like, how do you know you if you would get along well with him?" said Jeff.

"Well," Makoto looked at the ground and blushed slightly, "I've been to a few of his band's gigs, and his voice is amazing, not that he sings often. He plays the bass, so he doesn't get up to the mic very often. He plays with real passion. I think all of that feeling has to count for something."

The pair across from her looked at each other, then nodded as they agreed with Makoto.

"Yes, if he puts that much into his music, then he has to have a lot of it to put into his everyday life." Ami thought she had a good idea on what this guy was like. "He is probably the classic artist, full of life, energy, and passion for whatever he does and whatever it involves."

"You know," began Jeff, "I bet if you actually talked to him, he might actually go for you, Makoto."

"Oh, I don't know..."

"Makoto, you have to take a chance sometimes."

She looked up at her friends and decided that they were probably right.

"You know, I think I'll go for a little walk. Is that all right with you guys?" As Makoto got up, everyone nodded and said goodbye. Ami wished her good luck. 'I'm gonna need it.' she thought, 'I don't know if I have the guts for this.'

***********

As Makoto walked to where John's band had it's next gig, she had several second thoughts. She almost turned back a few times and went home. Eventually, she found herself at the park where some of the band members were setting up the equipment on the small stage in front of long rows and columns of folding chairs. She steadied herself and went to move toward the stage when a funny looking little man with a weird, shuffling step walked out of the park in quite a hurry and knocked Makoto right over.

"Oh, sorry miss." He had a strange voice, and as he took her hand to help her up, she felt a strange sensation, like she had touched something slimy and cold.

"Um, it's all right. No harm done." She felt a little confused about the little man, but all of that confusion went away when he saw John crossing the park to the stage. He got to it, took his bass and began to tune it. Makoto felt as if she were paralyzed. Half of her wanted to run right home and forget about ever trying this silly attempt and the other half wanted to run over to John right now and grab him and kiss the life out of him. The tiny, almost unnoticeable piece of common sense still left up in her brain won out, though, and she calmly walked over to the stage. As she approached, John looked up and looked directly at her. She froze in her tracks.

"Can I help you?"

"Well, um, I guess you could..." Makoto scolded herself for sounding so stupid.

"Well, if you could tell me what I could do, I'm sure I could help in some way." 'Hmm, she's kind of cute,' John thought, 'but she seems kind of lost.'

"Uh, could you, uh, walk with me, please?"

John thought that this was a little odd, but who was he to pass up a chance to be alone with a beautiful girl? He hopped off of the stage and followed her. They walked around the park a bit before either one of them said anything. Eventually, John spoke up.

"Did you want to talk about something, or are you just a fan?"

"I, uh, well...."

'Yep. She's a groupie.' John thought.

"Here," John held out two tickets.

"What are these?"

"Tickets to tonight's show. See you there." As he turned and walked away, Makoto couldn't do much besides stare at him as he left. She was more than a little confused by her inability to say anything to him. The good thing was that she would have another chance later tonight, and that was all she cared about.

***********

Rei moved the broom mechanically. She couldn't stand to sweep anymore, but it had to be done. She wished she had some other help besides Chad around the temple, but it was just him, her and Grandpa. Luckily, a little, pink-haired excuse for a break from the monotony trotted up the stairs at that moment.

"Oh, hello, ChibiUsa! What brings you up here?"

"Oh, nothing." The younger version of Usagi didn't seem as happy as she usually was. Rei picked up on this and knew that there was something wrong.

"Come on. There's got to be something on your mind."

"Well," ChibiUsa was reluctant to tell what it was that was bothering her, "I miss my mom and dad." The last part came out in a mumble.

"Well, I'm sure that if you tell Usagi--"

"Don't you dare tell her! I don't want her involving herself in my problems!" With that, she ran off.

'Well, that went well.' thought Rei. As she went back to sweeping, she forgot about ChibiUsa problem and went back to thinking about how much she would like to get some extra help around the temple.

***********

As she held the pair of tickets in her hand, she was faced with two problems. One, what would she do once she was at the concert, and two, who would she bring? She walked aimlessly through Tokyo pondering the question and eventually, she realized that she had ended up in front of Rei's temple. She barely missed being run over by a short, pink-haired missile barreling down the stairs. With barely an 'excuse me', ChibiUsa was gone down the street. 'ChibiUsa's never that rude, well, not _that_ rude,' Makoto thought. She wandered up the stairs to the temple to see if Rei was free to talk. She found her where ChibiUsa had left her moments before sweeping the yard of the temple. As she approached, Rei looked up.

"Have you come to help?" Rei asked, hopefully.

"Uh, actually, I was wondering if you could help me." Makoto's head felt all foggy inside. It was if she was in a dream. She held out the tickets for inspection. "I, uh got these from John..."

"Who?"

Makoto remembered that Rei hadn't heard about the new crush Makoto had, so she explained who he was and what he was like. From behind Rei, a voice, that sounded like the speaker had just woken up and was a stoner to boot, decided to enter the conversation.

"Hey, I know that guy. He's in the Flying Dream Machine as the bass player, right?"

Rei rounded on the newcomer with fire in her eyes and let loose a barrage of harsh words that she let out only when someone decided to rub her the wrong way.

"Where the hell have you been, Chad?! I've been working out here for hours with no help, whatsoever!"

"Whoa, sorry Rei! Uh, your grandpa asked me to help him with something"

Rei made no effort to hide the disbelief on her face, but she relented.

"All right, just get going with your chores!" At that, Chad scampered off to do as he was told and escape from this taskmaster. In truth, however, he would do anything for Rei, and the both of them knew it.

"Geez, Rei," said Makoto, "Do you have to be so hard on him?"

"Oh, I guess you're right. It's just that I seem to get less and less help these days."

"And I bet it's because you like him an you're just trying to hide it, right?"

Rei's eyes widened and her mouth opened on shock. "What? Me? No, never!" Unlike Rei, Makoto hid the disbelief very well and just continued telling Rei of her problem with the tickets.

"Would you come with me?"

"You know, I'd like to, but so much needs to be done around here that I can't do anything until it's done."

"Oh," Makoto stared at the ground dejectedly. She thought that Rei might have had a solution to her problems. With a start, she realized that she did indeed have more than one problem. One, she had an extra ticket. Two, she was totally obsessed with this guy, which, considering Makoto's emotions, was normal, albeit a little over the top. Three, her obsession was becoming just that, an Obsession. But she really didn't care because she was in love with this guy, at least, she thought she was. She heard Rei muttering something about not having enough help around the temple and Makoto suddenly had an answer to at least one of her problems. A few minutes later and a few phone calls, she had everyone at the temple helping clean up. She didn't tell anyone about the tickets, but to get them to help she promised to make them a feast for lunch tomorrow. Either that, or a knuckle sandwich. At any rate, she had Usagi, Ami, and Minako down to the temple to help Rei get done with the cleaning. Makoto picked up a broom, and started sweeping along side Rei, who was much more pleasant now that help had arrived.

As she was sweeping, Makoto asked Rei if she could come now, due to the extra help.

"Well, I don't have anything else to do, and since I would like to see this John person..."

"That's great! I needed some back-up, or else I don't think I could do it."

"Back-up? Do what? Makoto, if you'll please try to make coherent sentences, I'm sure I'll be able to understand you."

"What? Oh, sorry. I need back-up, you know, in case I lose my nerve at the last minute or something." Makoto lost herself in thoughts of what she would do tonight. It felt like there was two of her inside her head arguing about what she should do or should not do. One said she should go for it and tell John exactly what she thought of him. The other said that she should run home and forget that she had ever thought of this. Of course, the ever-present kernel of control and common sense told her to just be herself because that always worked and always will work when she deals with other people.

"Uh, Makoto, the best way to use a broom is by moving it." Makoto just looked at Rei for a moment as if she had said the oddest thing in the world and then she realized that she had indeed stopped sweeping. 'Boy, I _am_ out of it.' she thought.

"Um, right, Rei. The quicker I work, the quicker we're done, right?" She started sweeping again with redoubled effort and thought of things to come.

***********

"Wow," the second Caretaker was reading her instruments, "Look at it go! I don't think I've ever seen it go this fast before. She's ready to burst with emotional energy. I must be better than I thought."

"Good. I think that by tonight she'll be ready for harvest, yes?" said the first.

"Tonight?!" the third was outraged, "She'll be ready in an hour! Why wait?"

"Because we have the time to. If we let her go until tonight, we'll get twice as much from her than we normally would."

"Yes," agreed the second, "We really don't even have to bring the double back to us, we can just siphon off the excess and destroy the doppelganger."

"Or, we could let them destroy it for us." offered the third.

"Excellent! That's the spirit! Now, we wait."

***********

Everything was in place, the lights, the crowd, everything. Now, all that was needed was the band. As John and his bandmates walked up onto the stage, the cheering began. 'This,' he thought, 'is what I live for.' He scanned the crowd for people he knew. He always did this at every gig, but he rarely saw anyone he knew well. Usually he only recognized people he'd invited. This time, however, he recognized one person in particular. Right up in front, as if she'd made sure that she got the best seat, was that groupie that he'd given free tickets to. He also saw that she'd brought a friend. She looked like someone that the drummer had been going on about. 

He put all of his thoughts on hold because he had gotten to his position on stage and had picked up his bass. The lead singer/lead guitar player was getting the crowd going and he was leading into the first song. It was time to play. The first song felt good. It started just like in practice and the notes came easily. He felt, more than heard, the bass thrumming underneath the rest of the song as the melody played along top. The rhythm was dead-on, which John was surprised at, considering the drummer was a new guy. As they were going into the tail end of the song, he caught a glimpse of the groupie chick staring into space. Her friend leaned over to shake her back to reality and, again, all was as it should be. The song wound down to a stop and the crowd took the relaxed posture of the band as a cue to cheer and applaud the musicians. The sound of it rolled over John and he thought, 'Yes, this is where I belong.'

The cheering rolled past the members of the audience, too, but one member in particular seemed oblivious to it. Makoto merely stared at the object of her affections on stage as he reveled in the praise of the fans. Rei looked over at her and decided that this time, she would just give up. If Makoto was going to pass into a catatonic state every five minutes, then so be it! As her attentions went back to the band and the crowd, she heard a rather distinctive shriek above all the rest. When she turned her head, sure enough, there was Meatball Head cheering at the top of her lungs and, standing next to her, was Mamoru. He was enjoying himself, despite having a howling banshee screaming in his ear. 'I don't know how he does it.' she thought.

"Hey!" she yelled. It didn't seem to grab their attention, which was to be expected, considering the noise, so she tried again. "Hey!! Usagi! Mamoru!" This time it worked and they turned towards her an greeted her. She asked what they were doing here.

"Oh, I know the lead singer," said Mamoru. Sure enough, the guy up in front picked up the mic and thanked his good friend Mamoru for coming and complemented him on his beautiful, and enthusiastic, date. "We got some tickets off of him."

"Oh, what a coincidence, Makoto got a pair from the bass player."

"So that's why she made us all help you out!" Usagi's eyes widened with realization, then narrowed with confusion, "If you wanted to go that badly, why didn't you just ask Chad?"

"He had his own chores to do."

"That's not what I mean. I meant why didn't you just ask him for tickets?"

Rei thought her meatball headed friend had finally lost it. "Why ask him for tickets? If you think I'd go as far as to ask _him_ out--"

"No, look," Usagi pointed, "there he is." Rei followed Usagi's line of sight, and there he was, sitting behind the drum set, keeping time as the band went into a new song. Rei's jaw hit the floor. 'How come he didn't tell me?' she thought. As she was watching him, she noticed how well he played. He was pouring his heart and soul into it. It was if the music kept him alive and he wanted to keep going as long as possible. She realized that she was staring and chided herself for acting like Makoto. She looked over to find her and saw her exactly where she had left Makoto, staring at John.

***********

As the band played on into the night, after a extremely good cover of 'Turn On Your Love Light', a somewhat unremarkable audience member separated himself from the crowd. He was small, stout, and had an odd way of walking. He walked a small distance away and pulled an odd looking device out of his pocket. It looked like a bizarre mutation of a cell phone. He pulled out the antenna, pushed a button, and spoke into it. The device beeped once to show that the signal had been received and he put the device away. He turned and headed back to the crowd to proceed with phase two of the mission, after the band was finished, of course.

***********

It was late by the time that the band had finished playing and most of the fans had left. Pretty soon, it was only Makoto, Rei, Usagi, Mamoru, and a few other stragglers. 

"Well?" Usagi asked Makoto.

"Well, what?"

"_Well_," she added stress to the word, "are you going to go up to him?"

"I, uh, I will. In a minute." The others decided that she needed a few minutes to let her collect herself and they walked away. Inside Makoto's head, she was debating with herself, weighing pros and cons. Again, the warring halves, the two that either wanted to do this right now or go home and hide, were yelling at each other and causing more than their share of confusion, resulting in Makoto just standing there with a glazed look in her eyes. Her dilemma was solved for her, anyway, because John, noticing that she hadn't left yet, decided to go down and deal with the lingering groupie.

"Did you enjoy the show?"

"Huh? Oh, John! Uh, yes, I did. I enjoyed it very much. You played magnificently." John thought that Makoto sounded like she was on something. He didn't know what, but, whatever it was, it was making her seem like she was dreaming.

"Thank you very much, uh, you know, I don't think I got your name."

It truly did sound like Makoto was dreaming. Her speech was beginning to slur and she looked quite dazed.

"My name's Makoto." The words became drawn out and stretched.

"That's a nice name. Do you want to walk with me? There are too many people here." In truth, there weren't too many people around, it was just that he thought he could take her somewhere where she might be able to get home safely. She seemed as if she would topple over at any second. One of the other band members called to John to tell him that they were leaving. He acknowledged them and said good bye. Chad was asking Rei if she liked the show and she was trying to get him to go back to the temple. He finally relented and left. John noticed that the only ones left were himself, Makoto, her three friends, and this odd looking little man. Before he went on a walk with Makoto, he decided that he'd better help this other fan of his.

"Excuse me, sir. Can I help you with something?"

"No, not really." The voice that came from the little man did not sound natural. He looked into John's eyes and John became afraid. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that his life was in danger from this odd person.

"But," the man continued, "she can." He pointed to Makoto. Rei, Mamoru, and Usagi all had varying amounts of realization showing on their faces, but they couldn't act on it because they cannot transform in front of someone. This hesitation was all the funny little man needed. From his jacket, he produced the weird cell phone-like device and aimed at Makoto. When he pressed a button, she stood ramrod straight. Another touch of a button on that horrific device, and she screamed and split in two. This time, they were both Sailor Jupiter after the split and they both were instantly at each other's throats. Punching, kicking, and even biting, they fought with an amazing passion. The little man was better equipped than his predecessor and he knew which one he was to take back, but just in case, he activated the collector to gather the excess energy cascading off of the doppelganger. 

"He's mine!" one Makoto screamed at the other, "You can't have him!"

"Shut up! I am going to put you where you belong!"

"I'd like to see you try, bitch!"

Those, and other furious verbal assaults, where thrown back and forth in almost as many numbers as punches landed. After a few minutes of this, both Makoto's decided to rest for a few minutes and tend to their numerous bruises. During this respite, Rei remembered herself long enough to call for back-up. They were going to need the help. John, although he knew he shouldn't, took this opportunity to sort things out and he approach the dueling twins. 

"Uh, excuse me." Both Makotos turned to look at him. He had to swallow while under those twin gazes. Both carried an intense hate of their respective duplicate and another emotion full of passion and hope. John had a good idea of what the latter was.

"John," one of the combatants seemed to forget the battle, "I hope you're all right. Don't worry, I'll get rid of her soon." This one simpered and made all sorts of suggestive winks and gestures at him, and for a moment, he was afraid that this one might be the real Makoto. He changed his mind when he saw the other one come barreling into the simpering one. The second one had seemed to find a second wind after that brief respite and had descended upon her duplicate. John was impressed. This one did not seem to be the simpering type. She seemed to be exactly the opposite. She was strong of mind and body, forceful, but not wrongly so. She had wrestled her opponent to the ground now, and was proceeding to beat the living daylights out of her. The fire in her eyes was impressive and John lost himself in the welcome thoughts of how beautiful she seemed in her berserker's rage, full of life and energy. 

These thoughts were interrupted because just then, the funny little man had had enough. If he was to bring this specimen back to the Caretakers, he couldn't do it if she was dead, now could he? With an energy that was felt, more than heard, he shed his disguise, much like someone would wash dirt away under a faucet. He appeared to grow in size until he loomed over all of them. This explained the odd walk, at least. It must be cramped in that little suit. Usagi, Mamoru, and Rei knew that they could not wait any longer, they transformed.

Through the cascading energies, John saw what he had thought to be normal music-lovers turn into beings of power and grace, ready to confront the dangerous creature that threatened them. The little one, the blonde with the odd haircut, stepped forward and introduced herself. Her speech was the absolute _dumbest_ thing he had ever heard, but at the same time, it seemed to hold great strength and meaning for the costumed heroes before him. He turned to look at the creature to see how it reacted to the speech and, to his disappointment, the thing seemed to be annoyed, at best. Not scared or even respectful. It didn't even reply, it just took the advantage of them standing in a group to launch an attack to finish them in one fell swoop.

John had to cover his ears at the sound of the impact and turn away. As a result, he lost track of the three would-be-saviors and panicked. 'Did he get them? Where are they?' Thoughts whizzed through his head. He sighed briefly when he located them. The one with the cape was almost directly above where he had been, in a tree, and the girls had jumped, or been thrown, he couldn't tell, to either side. The next shock to assail him was the blast from Makoto landing next to him. The shot meant for her double had missed, almost hit him, and raised the hairs on the back of his neck. He jumped again when an arrow of fire shot past his shoulder, apparently from the one in red. It struck its mark and he thought that they had won, but his heart sank when he saw the creature come out without a scratch. This apparently had startled the one who had shot it and this gave the monster an opportunity to strike her down. She fell to the ground and John thought it might be over. The monster rounded on the remaining heroes and the man in black stepped between it and Sailor Moon. John had never seen anything like it. The caped one was meeting the monster blow for blow and, for a moment, it seemed like he was winning, but the monster took a very unfair advantage of his opponent's footing and tripped him. While on the ground, the man in black was swatted away like a rag doll, where he hit a tree and slumped to the ground. The creature now had it's sites on Sailor Moon. It showed no concern over the twin Makotos dueling each other. It was as if they didn't matter. It truth, it ignored everything else except the three that were fighting it. John thought it was over for him and the three that had fought the demon, but just as the monster raised it's hand for a killing blow, he heard the cavalry arrive. 

"Venus Love Chain Encircle!"

A chain made of the purest light lanced out and ensnared the creature's arm. John looked up and saw more people dressed in similar costume as the three he had witnessed. Five were female, one just barely old enough to fight, it seemed, and the other was male, carrying a big trident, and he looked like he knew how to use it. One of the girls, who was dressed in yellow (John decided that he was going to get a different way of telling them apart), had hold of the other end of the glowing chain and she gave a mighty tug. Since the monster was startled and all ready off balance, he fell over backwards and hit the ground hard. It tried to get up, but the other guy and one of the girls, they seemed to be related, he supposed, rushed in and fired at the still prone creature. They produced a torrent of water and energy that tore into the creature and threw it backwards for a good dozen meters. They cued Sailor Moon, who was in the process of getting up, and she raised a small gem above her head. John had no idea what this seemingly insignificant crystal could do, but when she activated it, the white light that poured from it and washed over the creature. It opened it's mouth to scream, but no sound came. Then, it vanished. The light continued and it washed over John. He felt the best he had in years. He watched the light flow over the twin combatants, who had not stopped for anything, and one of them appeared to falter. The other, the stronger, non-simpering one, smiled triumphantly, called forth her power, and destroyed her evil twin.

After a moment of celebration, and a quick check to see that everyone was all right (everyone was fine, except for a few bruises and scrapes), they turned to John. They all looked so severe. He realized that these costumes concealed their identities, despite the lack of masks or other concealing articles of clothing (AN: Gotta love them short skirts!!), and he had found out who four of them really were. He feared for his life. If he knew who they were and they wanted to keep that a secret...

He backed up a step.

"No, don't run. We're not going to hurt you," said Sailor Moon. He wasn't sure if he trusted the rest of them, but for some odd reason, he trusted this one.

"All right," John was surprised at how calm he sounded, "What are you going to do to me?" This got more than a few giggles from the girls. One burst out laughing. The guys traded disbelieving looks, well, he guessed at the looks because he couldn't quite tell what was behind those masks. He felt a little insulted. One, they laughed at him for asking a perfectly sound question, and two, they obviously didn't consider him enough of a security threat to do anything about it.

"It's all right, John. The only thing that we ask of you is to keep our secret safe." This was unbelievable. No other super heroes he'd read about or seen on T.V. would accept a promise, but, he decided, it was better than death.

"O.K., your secret is safe with me."

The Scouts collectively sighed relief. At what, John had no idea. Maybe they were ready to do something had he not agreed. John was surprise for one last time that night because the Scouts had just de-transformed and John saw a group a perfectly ordinary people. Sailor Moon stepped forward.

"Hello, my name's Usagi."

***********

At Rei's temple one evening, the girls were studying and something was bothering Minako. When Makoto asked her why, Minako jumped as if she had been lost in thought.

"Uh, Makoto. How did your fight with your, uh, double go last night?" She was obviously trying to avoid some topic of conversation, but thankfully, Makoto didn't pick up on it.

"Oh, we beat each other up pretty good and I've got the bruises to prove it."

'So it wasn't the same as in my dream. There, it looked like neither one was landing a punch!' Minako thought, 'But what does that mean?'

"Minako, are you all right?" asked Rei, "You look lost."

"No, I'm fine. Really, now what was that problem we were working on?"

All of a sudden Makoto jumped up. 

"Oh no! I'm going to be late!" And she ran out the door to hopefully be on time for a date with John. This took Rei's attention from Minako's worried look and everything continued as normal.

When study group was over and everyone went home, Minako lingered. When Rei asked why, Minako just said she really wasn't that tired and she didn't want to go to bed.

"Well, Grandpa won't let you can't stay here. Sorry."

"I know, I know. See you tomorrow, Rei."

"Good bye, Minako"

As Rei shut the door, Minako turned to go home with a sinking feeling about what she might see in her dreams.


	4. Never Forget You're Never Alone

Episode numero four is next up. I hope you enjoy it.

Um, I don't own the Sailor Senshi and I do not wish to be sued. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, as does the rest of the Scouts. I, however, own the Caretakers and Prince Neptune because, as I said before, I am him, so don't even try to say that you own me. 

Episode 4: 

Never Forget You're Never Alone...

Usagi was walking to school by a scenic route that took her the longest time to get there. She really didn't want to go to school, today. She had a test in some subject or another, she really couldn't remember which, but she knew she really didn't want to take it. She looked up from her brooding long enough to see where she was in relation to the school. She estimated that she had about ten minutes to go until she got there. She also noticed that she was at the graveyard. A slight chill passed over her. She remembered this place well. She had confronted a minion of the Negaverse here, a long time ago. She remembered how Melvin had helped during that fight. He was so gallant and foolish, that he won the heart of a close friend of hers, Molly.

She felt a chill again, but this time it was just for the fact that she was standing in front of a graveyard, and that was just plain creepy. She was about to quicken her step and get to school when she thought she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She wondered who could want to be in a graveyard, of all places, especially when it was a particularly creepy graveyard. She decided to go in and see who was there. She heard voices up ahead. She snuck behind tombstones and got closer to the noises. Eventually, she got to the only tree in the graveyard and she was able to make out the voices clearly. It was Jeff and Michiru. She peeked around the trunk of the tree and she saw that each was dressed in their school clothes and each held a bouquet of flowers and a musical instrument. They laid the flowers down gently and said a few words, seemingly to no one in particular and picked up their instruments, Michiru had a violin and Jeff had a guitar. 

They started to play. The notes weren't fast or happy, as one would expect in such a place, but they did seem to mean something. They sounded so sad. As the notes soared and fell, she thought that nothing could sound so mournful, but then Jeff and Michiru started to sing. They didn't sing words. Their song became part of the music, just as grieving as the instruments, and Usagi closed her eyes, and let herself be lost in the music. Images flashed in her head of people she knew, long dead, and how she felt when they left. Her great-grandmother, an uncle, a cousin. Tears welled in her eyes and the music willed her to cry.

Abruptly, the music stopped. For a moment, she was very confused and she opened her eyes. Floating directly in front of her, not two inches from her face, was the Ruby that shared memories and thoughts with Jeff and it looked annoyed. She wasn't sure how, but the gem displayed emotion in a way that was more definitive than any human being she had even seen. A sudden thought occurred to her and she looked up to see if she was right. Sure enough, Michiru and Jeff were standing there and they looked pissed. Under their gaze, she felt as if she had done something terribly wrong and she wanted to go back to when she decided to follow them and change her own mind.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Michiru. Usagi didn't know it, but she had invaded a private, personal moment. That song was to be played only for a specific audience, not for any outsiders.

"I, uh, was just walking by and I saw you guys walking in here and I wondered why someone would be in a graveyard. Um, if you don't mind me asking..."

"And we probably will." interrupted Jeff. Usagi continued as if no one had spoken.

"...uh, where did you learn to play like that? It sounded so sad and beautiful that I wanted to cry." 

Michiru smiled as if remembering something long past and gone, but no mirth reached her eyes.

"One of the things Mom and Dad taught us was a good appreciation for the arts."

Usagi was confused for a second, and then she realized who they were singing for.

"Oh, so you must have been singing for your parents! Oh, I'm, uh, very sorry. You must have loved them very much."

"We did, at that," said Jeff, "but I can guarantee that they loved us more." He looked as if he was going to cry. Besides when he was with Ami, this was the most emotion Usagi had seen him show since they had met him, on Earth, that is, not on the Moon. On the Moon, he was as outgoing and friendly as anyone else, but on Earth, he was cold and distant to everyone, except the Scouts, of course.

For a while, no one spoke. No one wanted to break the silence. Eventually, Usagi found the courage to speak.

"Well, we'd better get to class. We're going to be late." 

Michiru and Jeff snapped out of their reverie and glanced at of their watches. They both gave a start and hurried to get to school.

"If there's one thing Mom and Dad wouldn't have wanted us to do, it would be being late for school!" Michiru joked, but she was no less quick in getting her things and leaving.

"Hey wait for me!" Usagi hurried, but she still wasn't as fast as the twins ahead of her. The thought occurred to her that they seemed as if they were running from something, but that thought was quickly replaced by ones of her mother yelling at her for getting detention for being late, and she rushed to catch up.

***********

After a few loud sniffling noises, the second Caretaker was able to say something.

"That song was _so _sad!" A few more sniffles, "That one must be our next target; she's so full of emotion."

"Yes, true. She will be a good specimen." The third Caretaker had a little trouble speaking due to the lump in his throat. The song had moved him as well, but he didn't show it. The first Caretaker seemed to have absolutely no trouble with the song at all.

"Get your collector ready and proceed with the mission."

The second took a moment to collect herself, and started pushing buttons to signal the collector to prepare itself.

***********

As it turns out, Usagi was just barely on time for class, which surprised her classmates, her teacher, and herself and the rest of the day went smoothly, as if one thing going right had set the tone for the rest of the day. After school, she was on her way home she ended up have an interesting conversation.

"This 'on-time' thing really works. I should try it more often."

Around the corner, coming from her elementary school, was ChibiUsa. They greeted each other and proceeded to walk the rest of the way home with each other.

"How was your day, ChibiUsa?"

"It was O.K., I guess." Something was wrong. ChibiUsa was almost never this melancholy. Usagi was about to pry and find out the reason when they ran into another friend of theirs, Jeff, who was on his way home.

"Oh, Usagi, ChibiUsa, hello. It's good that I found the both of you together."

"Huh? Why is that?" asked Usagi. 

"I have a job to fulfill as Royal Protector," he said, without changing his expression or the tone of his voice. He said it as a mere statement of fact.

"Job?" asked Usagi.

"Yeah, job!" said ChibiUsa, "Just like at home!" She was referring to Crystal Tokyo, obviously, which Usagi understood, but Jeff missed completely. Usagi noticed this and explained it to him.

"She means the future. Crystal Tokyo. We've told you about that, right?" Jeff shook his head 'no'. "Well, a thousand years in the future, I am Neo-Queen Serenity and Mamoru is King Endymion of the Earth." She smiled. "We finally get married and we have ChibiUsa, of course. Everyone else is there, too, Ami, and Makoto, and Minako, and...hey, wait a minute," Usagi realized something, "That means you would be there, too!"

"Huh?" Jeff was at a loss for words, "How the hell did all of this happen?"

"We went through time. I'll tell you about it, later. So, ChibiUsa," Usagi turned her attention on her future daughter, "What is it that you know about Jeff, here?"

"Well," she was hesitant, "He becomes the Head of Security for the Palace. He also told me not to tell you very much, or else the timeline might be upset."

"My future self is a very smart man," remarked Jeff, "And, I don't want to know any more. Anything else might be too much." He turned back to Usagi, "But, I would like to know about what the Senshi have accomplished without me. For example, whatever happened to the Dark Kingdom?"

Usagi happily went into the story of how the Scouts defeated the Dark Kingdom and the various other enemies up until now as the three of them walked home.

***********

In the observation lounge of the Caretaker's ship, the second Caretaker was sipping qaf, a dark brown drink with quite a kick and a strong smell, and she was thinking quietly. 'These humans have such strong emotions. Especially the few that we're studying.' She saw everything as an experiment. She tried to gain knowledge from everything in life. She was wondering about how this next experiment would turn out when she heard over the intercom that she was being paged. Slowly, she went up to the bridge, not really wanting to be there, and assumed her place at the science station.

"Well, have you determined how we will proceed with this one?" The first caretaker went straight to the point.

"Yes, I think that the target emotion in this one will be sorrow." The third one snorted.

"Sorrow?! What a useless emotion. It only seems to be in the way." The second Caretaker wished that her companions could see the use of all emotions, but she thought that thought must be a woman's thing. The other two are hopeless when it comes to this kind of thing.

"Nevertheless," the first said firmly, "we must proceed with the mission. Prepare a collector."

"Aye."

***********

The apartment seemed lonely. It always did when she was thinking of her parents. Sure, she had Jeff and Haruka there to keep her company, and there was a whole aquarium full of fish to talk to in a pinch, but she felt the absence of her parents, as palpable and tangible as the couch she was sitting on. She was torn from her thoughts with a start when the doorbell rang. She looked over to Jeff in the living room. He was practicing with the Trident, going through forms, something he had never done before, obviously. She noticed so many changes in him. Little things, really, like the way he looked at everything. It was a little warmer and friendlier, everyday. Now, she noticed that he was too engrossed in what he was doing to answer the doorbell, so with a sigh, she got up to answer it.

At the door, there was a mailman. He asked her to sign for a package.

"Sure, just let me get a pen."

"I have one. Here you go."

As she took the pen from him, she got the oddest sensation that there was something wrong, but as soon as it came, it was gone again. She signed, thanked him, and shut the door. She turned around to find Jeff standing near by with a puzzled look on his face.

"Oh, so now you decide to answer it," she said mockingly. He seemed not to notice.

"Um, who was that?"

"No one, just the mailman. Why?"

"Oh, no reason. For a moment there, the Ruby and I thought we felt something odd, and then," he held up his hands in a vague gesture, "Poof. It was gone."

"I think you're cracking up."

"Yeah, maybe you're right," he grinned broadly, "I think I'll go back to practicing...I do not need it _that_ badly!! I just work on my form, that's all."

Michiru was startled for a moment before she realized that he was yelling at the Knowledge Ruby. She thought those two fought like brothers. Another change she was going to have to get used to, she realized. Another sigh and she went back to the couch, package forgotten. Idly, she wondered when Haruka was going to be home. She hoped it was soon.

***********

Outside the apartment, the collector shed the uniform he obtained from the mail carrier, currently unconscious under the bushes. He tapped his communicator twice to signal that he had completed the first part of his mission. Now, all he had to do was wait.

***********

"You know, we don't have to go to Rei's. I know this little place..."

It was early afternoon and John was doing his best to convince Makoto that going off to be alone was much better than taking him to get to know her friends.

"Oh, don't be silly. So far, you've met a few of them once and they only know what I tell them about you. I want them to get the stories from you this time."

He didn't want to, but he acquiesced. He still thought that there was nothing worse than getting to know a new girlfriend's friends. You never know when or how you'll run into them later on and the always have ways of making sure that you were treating their friend exactly as they thought that you should. Not that he wasn't going to treat her well, just that having a group of girls pestering you all day was not his idea of good time.

As they entered temple grounds, they heard noises that told tem who was there. They heard Usagi's shriek, Ami's distinct accent, Rei telling Usagi to calm down, as usual, and other noises that indicated everyone else, as well. As they came into view, they all greeted each other and, almost immediately, John was the center of attention of Minako, Rei, Ami, Usagi, and ChibiUsa. Mamoru and Jeff were there, too. Obviously, they had been dragged there in a similar fashion to the way John had been. The two of them were giving him looks like they knew how he was feeling.

John felt as if he were being interrogated. He tried his best to answer most of the questions that he was being bombarded with. Yes, he enjoyed playing in a band. No, he hasn't been in it long. Yes, he thinks Makoto's the best thing in the world. He knew that one was coming. He had been waiting for it. He even practiced his response so that it would satisfy even the most curious of questioners. As he predicted, the questions stopped coming at such a rapid pace after he answered that one and the tone of conversation became more casual.

"...As I was saying," Minako was going on and on about something or other that happened at school the other day. John didn't really care, but he listened just enough to know when to nod and when to smile. Mostly, he only cared about how he was going to get to be alone with Makoto. He detected a pause and he was about to nod when he noticed that the pause was more than just a pause. Minako was swaying slightly and holding her head. He looked around to see the other's reactions. Rei cried out and doubled over in her chair. He saw Jeff holding his head like he had a migraine. Mamoru put a hand to his forehead and groaned. He looked back to Minako just as she collapsed and he was only mildly embarrassed at the thought of how this will complicate his plans with Makoto. He took a closer look at Minako, who had been turned over on her back and he noticed that she looked to be asleep, outwardly peaceful and serene, but upon closer inspection, underneath that peaceful facade she seemed to be having the nightmare of a lifetime.

***********

As she waded through the blackness, she felt no fear or anxiousness. Indeed, she felt no emotions whatsoever, just peaceful and calm. She recognized this place as she approached the only objects in this dark and foreboding place. 

Sailor Venus walked past the now familiar row of mirrors standing just as she had left them. Well, almost as she had left them. The plain blue mirror that had shown dueling Sailor Mercurys, was now shattered as black, as if it had been under a great deal of pressure and heat, but only the glass was damaged. Makoto's mirror of vines and leaves was in the same condition. All of the rest of the mirrors held the same scenes as they had before, just a different stages of the battles. One of the combatants in Sailor Mars' mirror was bleeding badly and the other was panting as if she had run ten miles. The mirror showing Tuxedo Kamen vs. Tuxedo Kamen showed them almost exactly as she had left it, neither opponent seemed to be tiring. She had absolutely no desire to check her mirror. There was one other thing about one of the mirrors. Sailor Neptune's mirror had a huge crack straight down the middle and the waves it was made of seemed less violent. Also, there was only one Sailor Neptune in it. She seemed to be crying. She expected, that if she put her ear to it, she would hear her sobbing, but as she tested her theory, she heard something completely different.

A low, maniacal laugh drifted to her ear and it took her a moment to realize that it was coming, not from the mirror, but from the other side of it. She poked her head around the side to see who was back there and she saw a mysterious trio of silhouettes. They were short and had huge heads in comparison to their bodies. They seemed to be studying something they held in their hands. Whatever it was, it had a number of cords coming out from it and as she followed the cords along their paths with her eyes, she saw that there was one cord for each mirror, connecting each mirror to the device in the silhouettes' hands. The laughter cut short and they looked up at her. Even though she couldn't see their eyes, she could feel them upon her and for the first time since the dream began, she felt fear and she was sure that they were going to kill her.

***********

As Minako came to, she saw three feline faces hovering unpleasantly close to hers. She tried to shoo them away, but they didn't move very far. Luna barely gave her room to sit up and she was immediately asking Minako questions about what had just happened.

"Are you alright? How do you feel? More importantly, what did you see?"

"See? Why should have I seen anything?" Minako didn't want anyone to find out that she had been having dreams, but why would Luna ask such a question? 

"Don't try to avoid the question," said Jeff, "We know you saw _something_."

Minako was only able to goggle at him, which everyone else took as confusion, not as horror, as it was meant to be.

"We saw it, too, Minako." said Rei. 'They're not going to think I'm crazy!' thought Minako, 'Ooo, but they're going to hate me for not telling them.' And then another thought occurred to her.

"Wait a minute, you saw it, too? Who did?"

"Jeff, Mamoru, and myself." Rei answered.

"How? I thought they were only dreams."

"I guess they're something more," said Mamoru, "But all I got was a vague impression, like a feeling of something evil."

"Yeah, I got that too, but I think I saw something reflective, like a mirror." said Jeff.

"It was a mirror. There were a whole row of them," said Minako.

"And there was something else." Rei's tone implied that Minako knew exactly what she meant.

"There were three...things...standing behind the mirrors. They were connected to them somehow. I think they mean us harm." There was no other way to put it. It was like trying to describe dread without using any other emotions to compare it to.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Artemis looked worried. He thought that his dear friend might be losing it.

"I thought that you would think I was a big baby for being scared at a nightmare; that you'd think I was insane, or something."

Fortunately, she wasn't looking in John or Jeff's direction because they both started nodding vigorously and they were both silenced by looks from their respective significant others. Makoto went so far as to punch John in the short ribs.

"No, Minako, we'd never think you were insane," Usagi was barely able to keep herself from having a reaction similar to John and Jeff's, "Next time," not that there would likely _be_ a next time for this kind of thing, "Tell us if you think it's important."

"Or tell us anyway, even if it seems insignificant," added Luna, "It might be important." Minako looked up and smiled. She had such good friends. Her smile momentarily turned into a concerned frown when she noticed that Michiru was oddly silent.

"Hey, Michiru, are you all right?"

The aqua haired Sailor turned around to reveal reddened eyes and streaks down her face.

"I was so worried that you had some sort of injury or illness. I even thought that you might have died! I'm so glad you're all right." After this, she promptly burst into tears and everyone exchanges worried looks.

"Uh, sis? Are you O.K.? I mean, you don't seem to be...uh..." Jeff trailed off. He wasn't quite sure about how to sugar coat the fact that Michiru seemed completely out of her mind.

"Michiru, honey, perhaps we should go home and let you lie down." Haruka tried to get Michiru to calm down and when she was quiet enough, Haruka and Jeff guided her down the steps to the car. As Minako watched them go, she was sure that Michiru's odd behavior was somehow linked to her dreams. She wasn't exactly sure how they were linked, but she was going to find out.

***********

Going home, Jeff had to drive. Haruka was doing her best to calm Michiru, but it didn't seem to have any effect. Michiru kept going on about things changing too much and no one staying the way that they should and... 

They seemed like the kind of things that a madwoman would say. Haruka and Jeff didn't know what to make of it. Michiru usually seemed a little depressed about something, but she was never this bad. She usually felt a little melancholy about something she had heard that day, or had seen on the news about famine in some country in Europe, or the rise in Global Warming. She was sensitive to that kind of thing, which was weird, but her moodiness usually passed quickly enough to not be of any concern.

During the ride home, she never talked about anything else except how things she knew were slipping away and disappearing.

"First it was Mom and Dad, and now even Jeff is starting to change! I just don't think I can take this any longer."

That one caught both Haruka and Jeff off guard. Yes, Jeff knew he was changing, but that was due to his Moon-self resurfacing after a thousand years of dormancy. He thought that she might even welcome it because she knew him from Neptune, as well. He thought she would like to have someone to talk to about a home that was long gone.

Jeff felt a tug at his waist and he looked down to see the Knowledge Ruby emerging from his pocket. He chided himself for forgetting it was there. It floated up to about eye level and began flashing wildly. To anyone else, it would look like light bouncing off a precious gem, but to Jeff, it was an indication that the Ruby was trying to say something. The Ruby said that it felt...something...odd. It was the same as when the mailman came to the door earlier that morning.

"What's it say?" asked Haruka.

"He says something isn't right, though he can't tell me what it is, exactly."

"Tell it to find out what it is and then we can do something about it."

The Ruby_ HATED_ it when it was talked about like it didn't exist, but it had to deal with it because it couldn't exactly tell Haruka just what it thought of her due to lack of psionic ability on her part. It just floated away, sulking.

"You hurt his feelings."

"I'll apologize later. Right now, we have Michiru to worry about."

They turned to their loved one, intending to soothe her, but at that moment, she screamed loud enough to make Haruka and Jeff cover their ears and cringe in pain. And then, without warning, they were thrown against the wall and the breath was forced from their lungs. Groggily, Haruka moved her head around to see what had happened. To her left, she saw Jeff slumped against the wall, unconscious. The Ruby was whizzing around his head, obviously worried, but powerless to help. She looked towards where whatever it was that had thrown them should have been and she saw something she didn't expect to see. She thought it was double vision, or maybe the result of consciousness slipping away, but she thought she saw two of her beloved lying on the floor in front of her. And then, there was darkness.

***********

"Wow," commented the Second Caretaker, "I've never seen it go so fast before."

"Yes, I know," said the Third, "These humans and their odd emotion make for quite a headache."

"Be still, my friend," warned the First, "This is quite fortunate. We might just be ready for the L'Tari when they arrive."

The mention of their enemy, the ones who drove them to this blue-green rock in space, made the Caretakers' eyes glow with a dangerous light.

The First continued, "Soon, we will have our revenge."

***********

Walking down the hallway of the apartment building, Usagi tried to figure out why Minako was acting so odd. Even if Luna and Artemis ended up deciding that her dreams meant something, she shouldn't be acting this odd.

"So, um, Minako, what exactly are we going to see Michiru for?"

"I don't know. All I know is that I'll know it when I see it."

Usagi sighed. She just had to wait and see, she guessed. She was about to start another, more interesting conversation to help lighten the mood when an explosion rocked the building. Usagi realized that it came from the end of the hallway where Michiru, Jeff and Haruka's apartment was. She was off and running before she knew it and Minako wasn't more than a step behind.

They got to the door and Minako tried to open it. She jerked her hand away from the doorknob as soon as she touched it. It was red hot. Using the sleeve of her shirt to cover her hand, she opened the door carefully. As she opened the door, Usagi and Minako saw why the doorknob was so hot. The entire entryway was blackened with soot, as if a huge fire flashed here for an instant, but none of the walls or furniture was damaged, just dirty. They ran into the room to see if anyone was hurt. As they got to the parlor, they stopped dead in their tracks. Michiru and Michiru were standing up and looking at each other like stray cats. 'Oh no,' thought Usagi, 'It's happened again!'

From behind them, they heard a sinister voice, "What are you two doing here?"

They spun around and saw a perfectly ordinary man standing there as if nothing odd was happening at all.

"You'd better get out of here," warned Usagi, "This is not a safe place to be."

The sneer that bloomed on his face made her recoil in fear.

'He's one of them,' she realized, 'Oh, no! Mamoru, where are you?'

"It's time for the harvest." he pointed to the still figures of the two Michirus. Usagi tried to think, but her mind was too clouded with fear. She looked over to Minako and saw that she, too, was having trouble acting. A groan from the far wall, Haruka or Jeff, she couldn't be sure, jogged her mind and part of her screamed out 'Transform!'

As she lifted the brooch containing the Silver Crystal, the stranger suddenly lashed out and knocked it from her hand. Another quick motion, and he did the same to Minako, who had tried to use her pen to transform herself. The stranger quickly grabbed the front of their shirts and lifted them up until their feet no longer touched the ground. The man's features began to change. They seemed to melt off of his face as he became something else. In a few minutes, he had shed the disguise that the Caretakers had given him. If his breath didn't make Usagi and Minako want to throw up, his face did. It was hideous. It smiled as it pulled them closer, towards its mouth, as if it were hungry. Just as it was about to use those huge, green teeth, a very welcome sound came from behind them.

"Uranus World Shaking!"

"Neptune Trident Attack!"

The creature was thrown back and Usagi and Minako were unceremoniously dumped on the ground. Scrambling for the Crystal, Usagi quickly transformed. Minako got her pen and did the same. They were a little late. They turned around quick enough to see Prince Neptune yank the business end of his Trident from the chest of the monster's limp form. They heard him mutter something that sounded like 'That's what you get for harming my sister,' but they couldn't be sure.

"Hey!" yelled Usagi, "I'm supposed to kill the monster!" Neptune looked surprised.

"Forgive me, Princess, but why is that so important?"

"That's just the way it's always been done, that's all," Usagi pouted.

"Oh, um, sorry."

"I hate to interrupt," interrupted Sailor Uranus, "But I think we have a bigger problem on our hands." She motioned to where Michiru and Michiru sat across from each other. Strangely, they weren't doing anything. All the other time this has happened, the doppelgangers immediately attacked each other. 'Makes sense, though,' thought Usagi, "Michiru is just not a violent person.'

"What am I going to do with you?" One of the Michirus decided to break the silence and address her duplicate.

"Me? What about you?" replied the other, "You wouldn't shut up about _changes_ and your little _problems_," she invested the words with a good amount of scorn, "You make me sick."

"What was that, you poor excuse for human being?" the first Michiru got to her feet.

"You heard me!" shouted the other Michiru.

'I take it back,' thought Usagi, 'Maybe she is a violent person.'

The twin Michirus transformed themselves into dual Sailor Neptunes and launched themselves at each other. The others in the room became completely absorbed in the 'cat fight', as Jeff put it, in the middle of the room. They were so engrossed, in fact, that they did not notice the monster get up and draw it's energy weapon, given to it by the Caretakers. Apparently, Prince Neptune hadn't hit it in a vital area. It's anatomy was obviously nothing like human anatomy. Bleeding badly, it dragged itself over to where it had a good shot at all six of them, including the dueling Sailor Neptunes.

"Well, I suppose we have to let them figure it out. I'll go get a soda." said Minako. The other wondered how she could think of such a thing at a time like this. They continued to watch as the doppelgangers continued to pummel each other mercilessly. They didn't turn around immediately when she shrieked, but they did shortly thereafter when the creature's shot went wide, it's aim thrown off by Minako's howling.

On the other side of the room, the shot went unnoticed by the twin combatants. They were locked together, rolling around on the carpet, neither one wanting to let go of the other for fear of losing an advantage. At one point, they rolled in such a way that it was the perfect position for one of them to get her feet up under the other and push. One of the Michirus was thrown clear of the other, into the ugly, bleeding mess that was the cause of all this. The monster felt all the air knocked out of it by the force of the blow and it faltered. Usagi saw her chance. She had no idea which Michiru was in the way, but she had to trust that whichever-one-that-was knew what to do when she activated the Silver Crystal. 

Sailor Moon held the Crystal high and invoked the words to call on it's power. Nothing happened. Frantically, she tried again and it worked, this time. The other Michiru had thrown herself clear and the monster was consumed by pure, white light.

The Sailor Neptune that had almost been the victim of the Silver Crystal had landed awkwardly on her ankle and fell to the floor. She felt the sorrow she was made to influence as she looked up into a watery halo surrounding her opponent. The halo surged forth, surrounded her, and she was no more.

Usagi and the others went to the remaining Sailor Neptune, but stopped a few feet short.

"Are you wondering if it's really me?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, we are," said Prince Neptune.

"Well, then, test me."

"How?" said Sailor Uranus, "The doppelganger we saw have had the same memories and feelings and the originals." She found it odd that the doppelgangers would display other emotions, but she supposed that it wouldn't be a good disguise if they couldn't.

"Use the Silver Crystal on me. If I'm not who I say I am, the I'll vanish."

Usagi stepped forward hesitantly, "All right, I guess."

"Is everything all right, Princess?" said Prince Neptune.

"Yes, I'm fine. And stop calling me that!"

"Yes, Prin...uh...Sailor Moon."

Usagi held out the Crystal, it's facets glittering pink in the sunlight and activated it. The pure light washed out over Sailor Neptune and nothing happened. Nothing at all.

"You see? I'm the right one." she smiled from ear to ear. Haruka rushed in to wrap her arms around her.

"I'm so glad you're all right," she said.

While Michiru and Haruka were otherwise occupied, Jeff had time to ask Usagi what he thought was an important question.

"Uh, Usagi, why is the Crystal pink? I mean, it wasn't this way when I saw it last, which was a thousand years ago, but it still should look the same."

"I dunno. During a fight with one of the Heartsnatchers, you remember us telling you about them right?" he nodded impatiently, "Well, during the fight, it just changed. Simple as that."

"It _changed_?"

"Yeah. It just changed. Well, then it was heart-shaped-" Jeff cut her off.

"It was heart-shaped?!"

"Well, it obviously changed again, back to spherical, when we met Pegasus. Then, when we encountered the Mirror Parodies of Queen Nehelenia..."

This line of questioning went on for another few minutes until Michiru cleared her throat to get their attention. When she had it, she made a gesture to the soot covering the entryway, the blast mark on the wall from the creature's weapon, and the greasy stain left by the monster's destruction. 

"What are going to do about those?" Everyone just looked at each other as if someone else would volunteer the information. Finally, Michiru let out a huge sigh.

"I guess we've got a lot of cleaning to do."

***********

High above the Earth, the Caretaker observed what had become of their latest attempt.

"At least we wrecked their apartment." The Third tried to see the best of the situation. It wasn't doing any good. He was boiling inside from the defeat, but he was trying to calm down, after all, too much anger isn't good for your blood pressure.

"I suggest a change in tactics for next time. A two pronged attack." Forever the scientist, the Second tried to learn from her mistakes.

"Indeed." The First was stoic. He didn't say much, anyway, but this must have really gotten to him. He must find a way to deal with those Senshi once and for all.


	5. The Caretakers Feel The Pressure

As you should all know by know, I do not own Sailor Moon, Naoko Takeuchi does. I, of course, own the Caretakers, Prince Neptune, and the Knowledge Ruby. I want to thank Stef and Mercury Hime for letting me use them as a sounding board for my ideas and for giving me a few of their own. I want to thank Sadie (PriestessMars) for giving me the inspiration to write. Enjoy the fic!

Episode 5:

The Caretakers Feel The Pressure

As Jeff sat on the couch in Ami's living room, he stared out the window at the myriad of stars and wondered about what had brought him here. Not here on Ami's couch, here, but here in the existentialistic sense. In a universe of infinite choices, he had ended up here. Normally, this line of thought would really make someone feel small or insignificant because it would remind them of what might have been. Not this time. This time, Jeff looked away from the window to see Ami come from her bathroom where she had been finishing her make-up. This beautiful sight just reminded him of what he had and he thought that he had made the best choices possible.

"What are you grinning at? Is my make-up smudged?"

"No, it's perfect. I'm just thinking about how lucky I am to be here with you." Usually, Ami thought, guys only said things like this to compliment their dates for one reason or another, but this time Jeff was telling the truth, but she didn't know that. With a small smile that hid her disbelief on her face, she went to leave.

"Come on, we're going to be late."

Snapped from his train of thought, Jeff jumped up from the couch. "Right, we don't want to be later than Usagi. Let's go."

***********

John didn't know how he got talked into this, but he was now going to go on a _triple_ date consisting of Makoto and himself, Jeff and Ami, and Mamoru and Usagi. It seemed like such an odd thing to do. If he was going to be on a date with Makoto, he'd rather be alone with her. Still, they were going to a real nice restaurant. It was the kind you had to dress nice for. He looked over to the passenger side. Makoto was sitting there in an exquisite dress. He loved the way it emphasized her gorgeous figure.

"Uh, John."

"Yes, Makoto?"

"Shouldn't you be watching the road?"

John brought his attention back to the road just in time to swerve back into his lane an miss and oncoming car.

'I don't care _how_ good she looks,' he thought, 'It'll do us no good if I get us killed.' He focused on the road until they got to the restaurant where they saw that Mamoru and Usagi had already arrived. They were sitting and nursing drinks until everyone arrived. At least, it seemed that way. John would have wagered his last dollar that Usagi had already had five or six sodas by now. Usagi got up to greet the new arrivals.

As they sat down and said hello, they saw Ami and Jeff walk through the door. As they heard Ami say "I won," to Jeff.

"What did you win, Ami?" asked Usagi.

"I had bet Jeff that we would be later than you guys because I took so long putting on my make-up."

"What did you win?" asked John.

"I have to do her a favor." grumbled Jeff. He didn't like losing.

"What's the favor."

"I don't know yet," said Ami, grinning, "but I'm sure I'll think of something."

"Hey," John nudged Jeff with his elbow, "It might even be one of those favors you _like_ giving." John could be such a pervert, sometimes.

"I don't think so, John," replied Jeff, keeping his voice low, "I don't think she'd be the kind to be into that kind of thing. She's too proper."

"Aww, Jeff isn't getting any 'special attention' from his girlfriend?" Maybe John is a pervert _all _of the time. Neither Jeff or John knew this, but Ami could hear every word they said. Her first reaction was to yell at the both of them and stop that line of questioning. But she soon was getting ideas from the both of them. She realized that she could make Jeff do anything. Perhaps she'd give him a thrill later for being such a good sport.

At that moment, the waitress came to take their orders, and that little conversation had to end. Mamoru got a veal parmigania, Usagi got the chicken, but she kept stealing bits of food off of Mamoru's plate. Jeff was glad that Ami had enough sense to get what she could eat, but every time he looked down at his plate, he could swear that he didn't have as much as he did a moment ago. It was a shame. He really liked scallops and there just didn't ever seem to be enough on his plate. Makoto ordered more than the other two girls and she never had to steal from John's plate, which he was grateful for. He was very hungry. Makoto kept commenting on how good the food was, not as good as hers, of course, but good, nonetheless.

The topic of conversation drifted from this to that, briefly touching on John's life and what he did when he was younger. As much as John was on stage, he just couldn't stand attention from people sitting right next to him, so he quickly changed the subject to get away from that uncomfortable topic.

"So, uh, what are we celebrating tonight, anyway?"

Usagi and Mamoru looked at each other and smiled.

"We're celebrating our 1003rd anniversary," answered Usagi.

"And that would make it our 1002nd," added Jeff, motioning to Ami and himself and she nodded in agreement. It took John a moment, but remembered what they had told him about their past. He still thought that it was silly, being royalty from the Moon and other planetary bodies, but after seeing costumed heroes fighting monstrous attackers, he supposed anything was possible.

"Then why are we here?" John asked. He and Makoto weren't celebrating any anniversary.

"We like your company, John, and we wanted to get to know you better," said Ami. She stole another scallop off of Jeff's plate when he wasn't looking.

The conversation wandered around in that fashion until the meal came to an end. They all paid their respective parts of the bill, Mamoru's part was bigger than Jeff or John's due to the desserts Usagi ordered, and they left.

"I still say the tip should have been bigger," said Ami.

"I tipped her 10%," said John.

"I usually tip 15%," said Jeff.

"It doesn't matter. We can't go back in there and change it, so let's just leave," said Mamoru. He heard way to much bickering from Rei and Usagi when they were together. He wasn't going to let anyone else start any fights.

Walking to their cars, John suddenly stopped and looked a little embarrassed.

"Uh, I have to go the bathroom."

"Why didn't you go before you left?" Makoto berated him, "Hurry up!" John dashed off and the others decided to wait for him before they left.

"I love him, but sometimes..." said Makoto.

"I know how you feel," said Ami, "Jeff can be that way sometimes, too."

"Hey!" Jeff exclaimed. The group started laughing. Usagi was about to make some off-handed comment about Mamoru when the five of them were rudely interrupted.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Three street punks were walking across the parking lot towards them. They obviously thought that five people, three of which were female, all dressed up like some fancy, rich people must not only be easy targets, but have a lot of money as well. 

Jeff, Mamoru, and Makoto positioned themselves between Usagi and Ami and the thugs. Each thug walked right up to an opponent and sized them up.

"Look at this one," the one in front of Makoto said, "She thinks she's tough!"

"This one don't look like too much," said the one in front of Jeff. Jeff grinned at that because this guy was going to be in for a surprise.

The other thug, whom appeared to be the leader, got right up in Mamoru's face. "Well, it looks like you go two choices, punk. Either you give us you're money, or we'll take it from you, only that wont be so pleasant for you." He laughed.

If looks could kill, Mamoru's would have destroyed the thieves where they stood. "You'll leave us alone. Now." His tone said he would have it no other way.

"You tell him Mamoru!" shouted Usagi.

"Shut up back there, girl!" shouted the leader of the thugs. He didn't notice the change in his opponent's eyes. It's really a shame because if he did, he would have run like a little girl from a big, nasty bully.

Mamoru gave him one more chance. "You _will_ leave." The thugs didn't move. The one in front of Jeff grabbed the front of Jeff's shirt. Makoto's opponent pushed her shoulder. The leader reached back for a punch. That was all they did.

Like a flash, Makoto grabbed the thug's arm and threw him clear across the lot into another car. Don't worry. The car was undamaged. In the same amount of time, Jeff threw two quick punches to his opponent's stomach and then introduced his knee to the thug's head. Mamoru moved so fast that his fist seemed to appear on the leader's face. He didn't even put his arm down as the street punk slid off of it.

The three would-be thieves got up and ran. They had had enough for one night. Usagi was cheering her head off and Ami moved to Jeff, telling him that they might have pulled a gun or a knife, or something. He could have been killed! But as upset as she was with him for risking his life, she still seemed proud of him for risking it for her.

John came around the corner of the building just as the street punks were running past him. "What happened?" He had the most confused look on his face.

"Nothing much," said Jeff, "Just a little scuffle." Ami gave him a look that said she thought it could have turned into a trip to the hospital if he was any less careful, but he didn't notice.

"I'm sorry I missed it."

"It's not like you would have missed anything, sweetie," said Makoto, "We took care of them." John looked a little surprised, and then he remembered how strong his girlfriend was and that there were three thugs, so she would have had to take care of them. This must have shown on his face, because the other started laughing.

"Aww, my sweetie's ego is bruised," Makoto joked, "Don't worry, honey. I promise that I'll let you protect me sometimes."

John managed a somewhat amused grin and everyone said good bye and got in their respective cars and left.

***********

High in orbit, the Caretakers watched the whole thing and discussed their next plan.

"Would you look at them!" exclaimed the Second Caretaker.

"They don't look like much. They're only commonplace thieves," said the Third.

"Not them, you idiot! The two guys, Mamoru and Jeff."

"Oh."

"They seem so confident and sure. I'd really like to take them down a notch."

"Why are you so vindictive?" interrupted the First. Not waiting for an answer, he continued, "I do appreciate the sentiment, though. Select two collectors and proceed with the mission."

The other two Caretakers were stupefied, "Two at once?" asked the Third at the same time that the Second said, "We don't have the resources!"

"Of course we don't have the resources!" yelled the First. He never let anything get to him this much, so something must be bothering him. "But, we must collect energy from these _humans_ if we are to survive against our enemy." The other two silently agreed and got to work.

***********

At the temple, Rei was sweeping, again. She was always sweeping. Just her and had to help Grandpa around the temple, so it's not like she could complain about it. She was doing all she could to help, and it even seemed Chad was doing more than he usually did, so all in all, it was a pretty good, if boring, day.

As she continued with her chores, she noticed that a rhythmic _clack, clack, clack_ noise like someone whacking two stick together. She began to search for the source of the noise. Wandering towards the front of the temple, and the street, the sound grew fainter. 'It must be behind the temple,' thought Rei. As she went towards the back of the temple, the _clack, clack, clack,_ noise became louder and it was joined by the sound of shuffling footsteps and grunts. She noticed a pair of shirts tossed on the ground, soaked with sweat.

Rei rounded the corner to find Jeff and Mamoru practicing with wooden weapons, Jeff with a quarterstaff, blunt, of course, and Mamoru with a wooden sword. Sweat glistened on their arms, chests, and foreheads. They looked like they had been practicing for a while. A look of frustration painted Jeff's face. He obviously wasn't having an easy time. Mamoru looked focused. He was concentrating solely on the mock duel in front of him. Jeff went on the offensive, the quarterstaff whirling about him almost too fast for the eye. Parrying with the wooden sword, Mamoru moved backward at a constant rate. Rei thought Jeff was going to win this fake little fight, but in the blink of an eye, Mamoru dropped to one knee, brought the sword slashing across Jeff's ankles. Jeff, having been a little bit off balance from thrusting with the staff, fell right over and landed rather roughly face down on the ground. Rei winced in sympathy. That had to hurt.

Mamoru helped Jeff up and Jeff brushed himself off. Jeff was scowling, as would be expected of one who just got a mouthful of dirt. As they walked over to get their shirts, they gave a start at seeing the Shinto priestess standing there.

"Oh, hi Rei," said Mamoru, "What are you doing here?"

"I live here," said the priestess.

"Right, I knew that."

"So," said Rei, "Do you guys always do this?"

Jeff grinned and answered, "Why? Do you like watching us?" His tone implied that she had another reason to watch than just admiring the martial arts display. She almost hit him with her broom. He saw the look in her eye and continued in a more mature tone, but the smile never left his face.

"Well, we always used to spar on the Moon and since we haven't done that in so long, we decided to give it a shot. He's still better than me." That last part came grudgingly.

"Oh, don't worry Jeff," said Mamoru, "You just fall for the same trick all the time. You'll catch on sooner or later."

Rei's jaw dropped. Jeff, who prides himself on being able to see a thing once and learn it, and who prides himself on learning from his mistakes, has fallen for the same trick **_EVERY TIME_**?!

As Rei was going to ask him how that was possible, a man came walking up to the three of them. He was tall, his face was shaped a little oddly, but he wasn't ugly, just different somehow. He had a big grin on his face and he walked right up to the to guys and started talking without even introducing himself.

"Wow! I've never seen anything like it! You guys were moving so fast I could barely keep up!" The stranger moved to shake both Mamoru's and Jeff's hands. Each time he did, Rei had this overwhelming sensation of something evil in the area. She reached into her robes for an ofuda to ward it off, but it was gone so quick, she never had a chance to use it. She looked up and noticed that the strange man was gone, too, and both Mamoru and Jeff had the most confused looks on their faces.

"Who was that?" asked Mamoru. Jeff could only shake his head in reply.

"My head feel stuffed full of wool. I must have hit the ground harder than I thought." 

"Didn't you guys sense anything just then?" asked Rei. Mamoru said he didn't feel a thing. Jeff still looked like he was trying to remember something.

"Hey, Jeff," said Mamoru, trying to relieve his friends confusion, "Didn't you have a date with Ami?" Jeff's head snapped up with a startled look. With a cry of "I'm late!", he sped off down the steps in front of the shrine, into his car, and off to his apartment to get ready.

Rei and Mamoru exchanged worried glances.

"Maybe Usagi is rubbing off on him," said Rei.

"God forbid!" exclaimed Mamoru, "I don't think we can handle two people like that!" Rei laughed and said good bye to her friend. As she went back to sweeping, _again_, she forgot all about the brief feeling of evil and lost herself in the rhythmic motions of the broom.

***********

Walking down the street, Usagi was arm-in-arm with her beloved. Looking up at him, she saw Mamoru gaze down at her with a warm and loving smile. She felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

Laden with numerous shopping bags, Mamoru wondered how he let himself get talked into this. Looking into Usagi's pure, blue eyes, he reminded himself it was because he loved her with every fiber of his being. He looked up and noticed a group of guys, only two or three, standing not too far away and they appeared to be leering at his girlfriend and making gestures in their general direction.

Full of fury, he set the bags down and marched over to the group of young men.

"Are you looking at her?" he demanded. The guys didn't know why he was so pissed. They were only looking, and briefly, at that. They, of course, took offense to Mamoru's tone of voice.

"So what if we were?" said one of the guys. He tried his best to seem bigger than Mamoru, but that really wasn't possible, due not only to Mamoru's size, but the fact that Mamoru was furious. Mamoru towered over the three.

"Um, Mamoru, darling? It's no big deal. They were only looking." Usagi tried her best to clam him down. She had _no_ idea why he was flying off the handle like this. Hell, she always looked at other guys and he had never said anything.

Mamoru looked at her, the fire in his eyes was raging out of control, and he looked like he was ready to kill. Usagi was shocked to see him like this, but she kept her calm and gave him a level look.

"Mamoru, please."

Mamoru looked back to the guys, who had now backed quite a ways away due to the look in his eyes, and then looked back to Usagi.

"C'mon, let's go," he said. The fire had gone out of his eyes, but he was still as stiff as a board. Usagi didn't feel like clinging to him, anymore. He was too tense. Instead, she just walked beside him and wondered what was wrong. He was just staring straight ahead, not saying anything. The rest of their walk was finished in silence.

***********

Sitting in the kitchen, Michiru was holding a cup of tea and staring at it as if it could held the secrets of the universe. Something was wrong, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"What's up, Michiru?" Haruka just walked into the room, looking for something chocolate. She had had one of those days and needed a boost. Michiru looked up from her cup.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing." She looked back into her tea.

"Something is wrong."

"The Sea is restless," said Michiru, "But I don't know why."

"Maybe it has something to do with Jeff. He's just lying on his bed, looking at the ceiling as if there were something he had to do written on it." Thinking that Haruka was on to something, she got up and went to her brother's room. The usual strewn clothing and random crumpled papers lay about the room and soft, low music was playing from the CD player on Jeff's shelf. The room was also in darkness. Jeff had apparently forgotten to turn on the light.

Jeff was just as Haruka said he was. He had a look of complete and total confusion on his face. It was as if he was trying to force thoughts to the front of his mind, but they just wouldn't come. Michiru moved to sit on the edge of his bed. He gave a start, sat up, and looked at her like she had just appeared there. He obviously hadn't noticed her come in.

"Um, can I help you?" he asked. The usual focus in his eyes was gone. The cool blue-gray looked less like a storm and more like a drizzle.

"I was just wondering how you were," said Michiru. Jeff flopped back down on the covers.

"I don't know. I can't seem to think of anything. I feel so confused."

"About what?"

"I wish I even knew what I was confused about!" he chuckled softly, "I wish someone else knew, because I'm lost." The Knowledge Ruby floated up from a wadded up shirt it had been resting on, floated over to Jeff, and started to blink like light was hitting it, but there wasn't enough light in the room to make that happen. Michiru knew the Ruby must be saying something to him.

"Oh, geez! That's right! I have to go meet the girls to talk about..." he trailed off. The Ruby flashed again. "Right! About our enemies! I knew that." Michiru's face was a mask of concern.

"I think Haruka and I had better go with you." Jeff only nodded in agreement. She got up to get her coat. He followed her like he would get lost in the apartment without her. 'This is serious,' she thought, 'I had better keep a close eye on him.'

***********

This time, the Scouts decided that a walk in the park would be quite nice while discussing tactics, instead of sitting around the Temple. Besides, Rei had finished her chores and got Chad to finish the rest. She didn't want to spend a minute more at the Temple today, if she didn't have to. Usagi had convinced Mamoru that a walk in the park would be quite romantic, but he looked none too pleased about it, for some reason.

There was a gentle wind blowing through the trees and the sun was shining. All in all, a picturesque scene, but the Collector didn't like it. He sat in wait for the group of Scouts to get closer and for his two subjects to reach their peak. He'd much rather be on the ship among the technology and machinery, particularly the engines. The pulse of life in a serene park had nothing on the hum of power from powerful engines driving a starship across the galaxy. He heard the Scouts approach and turned his attention to them. His engines weren't going anywhere if there was no energy to propel them.

Walking among the trees, Rei should have had a sense of well-being. The pulse of life surrounding her seemed distant when compared to the overwhelming feeling of something evil nearby.

"What's wrong, Rei?" The little, pink-haired girl never missed as much as you thought she did. ChibiUsa was quite perceptive for a little girl.

"I guess it could be nothing," lied Rei. She didn't want to upset ChibiUsa, or anyone else for that matter.

"You're lying." Like I said, ChibiUsa was _very_ perceptive. By this time, every one was listening. Rei knew she was trapped, so she told everyone of her feeling. Everyone tensed, except Mamoru. 

"Be careful, Usagi," Rei warned, "There might be one of those _collectors_ here."

"Oh, that's all you do is warn her." Everyone's head whipped around, even Jeff's, who still looked lost in a fog. "It's my job to protect her, not yours." Mamoru, of all people, was yelling at the Scouts. They couldn't believe their ears. Jeff gave his head a vigorous shake to clear it and stepped forward.

"Um, Mamoru," Jeff even seemed unsure of his friend's name, "what are you saying?"

"Back off, _Royal Protector_. You have no right to keep Usagi safe." There was a dangerous light in Mamoru's eyes. Jeff still seemed as lost as a rat in a maze and could only stare blankly at his old friend. 

Seeing that Jeff wasn't getting anywhere, Usagi tried to talk to her boyfriend. She never should have convinced him that a walk in the park would be relaxing.

"Mamoru, Jeff has just as much right to act as my Protector as any of the Sailor Senshi do."

"The same goes for them!" Mamoru yelled. His eyes grew a little softer as he looked into her eyes. "Only I can be your Prince."

In the bushes, the collector watched a little screen on a little device made to monitor the two subjects. It beeped. It was time for him to act. The sooner this was done, the sooner he could get back to his engines.

He leapt from cover and landed in front of the Scouts. In the moment of confusion, he activated his little device and Jeff and Mamoru stood ramrod straight. The Scouts all backed away, because they knew of the explosion that would follow. 'I'm such an idiot!' thought Rei, 'I should have guessed that weird guy was a collector when he came to the Temple.'

The release of light and energy caused the Scouts to cover their eyes. When they were able to look back, they were greeted by the now predictable sight of doubles of Tuxedo Kamen and Prince Neptune. The doppelgangers stared at each other. Eventually, the two Prince Neptunes shrugged as if this was something they had to do, like a chore, and attacked each other with relentless fury. Neither one landed a blow. The metallic clang from the collision of the Tridents was evidence enough.

Each of the Tuxedo Kamens had moved away from the group of girls, neither one wanting to risk injuring Usagi. No one noticed them leave due to the show that Prince Neptune and his double were providing.

"Ready?" Tuxedo Kamen asked his counterpart. He indicated that he was. With an amazing amount of grace and skill, they flew through the space between them and met in the middle with a flurry of blows and they each parried the other's attacks with the same style and grace. Backing off from each other, they reached into the folds of their tuxedos and threw a barrage of roses, all of them colliding in mid-air.

Settling back at the approximate distance they started at. They regarded each other carefully.

"Good warm-up," said one.

"Yes, it was," said the other. Each of their tuxedos shimmered for a moment to be replaced with a set of armor and a sword. They each drew their sword and faced off. Circling around each other for a moment, they looked for an opening. When neither found one, they decided that an all out attack was best to weaken their opponent's defenses.

For all their similarities, and all of their skill, one of the Princes was getting more and more frustrated as the fight went on. The other, as if feeding of the other's frustration, was getting more and more calm and collected. The frustrated one started attacking more and more aggressively. The other just kept blocking and parrying, waiting for his chance.

All of a sudden, the calm one dropped to one knee, brought the sword around, and caught his opponent's ankle with it. The duplicate went down and Mamoru brought his sword up. A quick downward thrust and it was over. The double vanished without a trace and Prince Endymion reverted back to Tuxedo Kamen and went to see how Neptune was doing.

The Storm Prince was doing well, but it still seemed like the fight was even. Mamoru didn't get much of a chance to examine it more, because the collector, who was until then calmly keeping the Scouts occupied, flew into a rage that Mamoru had killed the double that he was supposed to take back to the Caretakers. Focusing his attack on the caped one, the collector didn't notice the Scouts getting ready for a massive blow.

From behind, the Scouts fired their assorted attacks, most of which hit. The collector was able to dodge a few of them, but he still took the brunt of their attack. In a weakened state, he was only able to crouch on the ground and cough. He had just enough left for one more attack...

But Usagi wouldn't have it. She lifted the Silver Crystal high above her head and the collector was vanquished by pure white light.

Prince Neptune's fight was finished shortly thereafter. During the fight, one of the Princes had a revelation. 'Hey, wait a minute!' he thought, 'He's composed of pure confusion. I wonder if...'

"Hey! What's that?!" He pointed wildly to nothing in particular. His double turned and looked. 'Holy shit!' he thought, 'I can't believe that worked!' Prince Neptune brought his Trident up, charged for the attack, and let the energy fly, destroying his double.

"Mamoru, Jeff, I want to apologize," said Rei, "I should have known that something was wrong with that guy when he entered the Temple." Before the got a chance to tell her that it wasn't her fault, Usagi interrupted and started one of the now famous fights between her and Rei.

"Yeah, Rei, I bet you were too busy looking at Chad to notice."

"Shut up, Meatball head! Chad had nothing to do with this!"

"Yeah, right..." The two just kept going on and on like this. The others could do nothing but laugh about it.

"Don't they ever stop?" asked Haruka.

"No, not really," said Ami, "It seems like the same argument. They just pick up where they left off."

Everyone decided that they should just leave Usagi and Rei to each other than wait through another tongue war. When the two of them noticed that everyone else had left, they stopped bickering, for now, and raced to catch up.

***********

On their ship, the Caretakers watched this newest tragedy unfold before them.

"Another one wasted." sighed the Third Caretaker.

"This isn't good," said the Second, "The L'Tari will be here any day, now."

"I would thank you not to remind me." said the First. He was very irritated and under a lot of pressure. They needed energy now. If they didn't get out of this system soon, they were as good as dead.


	6. Desperate Measures

4/23/01 

I have finally started putting dates on these things to show you how long it takes me to write one of these things. The last one was posted on April 15, 2001. Now for the standard disclaimer. I don't own Sailor Moon or any of the characters/settings/attacks or whatever else is mentioned on here. I do own Prince Neptune, the Knowledge Ruby, the Caretakers, and the L'Tari, so back off. They're mine.

I'd like to thank Stef and Mercury Hime for letting me bounce ideas off of them. I also need to thank my muse, Priestess Mars. Without her, I don't know if I'd be able to get over my occasional Writer's Block. Enjoy the fic.

Episode 6:

Desperate Measures

Haruka wandered around the apartment looking for something to do. She wished that she could go out driving. Her car had thrown a rod, so it was in the shop. Michiru had got Jeff to take her to get some art supplies, so she couldn't use his car. Setsuna and Hotaru had been 'vacationing' in the time stream since before these new threats came to Tokyo, so she couldn't depend on them for entertainment. In the living room, she flopped down on the couch. This was so boring.

As she watched the fish swim in their tank, she wondered how long it would take for those two to get back. A pair of the fish, one goldfish and another with a red stripe down the side, started chasing each other around the tank. It looked like they were racing each other. Fascinated, she watched them speed around the tank. They really did seem to be racing. She decided on a number of laps and waited for the outcome. The goldfish seemed to be winning, but halfway through the race, the striped one seemed to be catching up. Another lap, and the striped one took the lead. Two laps to go and they were neck and neck, each striving for the lead. Down to the last lap and the two little fish were still even. As they came to the point Haruka had marked for a finish line, the goldfish put on a burst of speed and crossed just ahead of the striped one.

Haruka jumped up. "We have a winner!" she shouted.

"Well, it's nice to see that you kept yourself amused, dearest, but why are you yelling at my fish?" Haruka turned around to see Michiru and Jeff closing the door behind them. They truly were twins, for the looks were identical. Except for minor differences, such as hair and eye color, they were exactly alike. They had the same facial expressions, the same dimples when they smiled, and even the same way they titled their heads when they were deep in thought. Right now, they had the same exact amused expression on their faces.

"Uh, hi, guys. I didn't expect you to be home so soon."

"Obviously," said Jeff, "Tell me, what were the fish doing and how did they 'win'."

"I'll tell you later." She could feel her face grow warm. She had to get out of there. "Hey, Jeff. Could I borrow your car?" Jeff barely had time to say yes before she grabbed his keys and ran out the door.

She paused to cool down in the hallway. She could hear both Michiru and Jeff laughing their heads off in the apartment. Scowling, she went down to Jeff's car. It was a nice car, sporty like hers, but a deep blue, just like ninety percent of everything else he owned.

Getting in and revving the engine, she tore out of the lot and down the street. The drive would do her good. Hopefully, by the time she got back, those two would be calm enough to be around. Hopefully.

***********

Computer in hand, Ami tried to ignore the noise that filled the Fruit Parlor Crown. She needed to concentrate. This program could help track the energy signal of these peculiar enemies. Finally, the noise grew too great and she gave up. Saving her program, she turned off the computer and put it in her purse. Turning her attention to the source of the noise, namely her friends, she joined the conversation.

"...So he tried to lift it all at once and fell right over backwards!" finished Makoto. She had been telling them how eager John was to please, so she had him working around her apartment. Apparently, he had tried to lift too many boxes of assorted junk Makoto had accumulated over time. The conversation wandered about how silly some guys acted when they wanted to impress some girls and eventually, a waitress came over to take their orders. They all got a soda, none of them had much money, today, all for various reasons.

The waitress return with their drinks and, while she was setting them down, she almost dropped one, but caught it just in time. This, however did not prevent some of the soda to go all over the table. Ami was suddenly glad that she put her computer away. It would have gotten soaked!

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry!" The waitress pulled a rag out of her apron. Some of the soda had gotten on Rei's shirt and was she was grumbling too bad to say anything. The waitress just went about wiping the table. She must have been particularly clumsy because the rag went right out of her hand, off the table, and into Rei's lap. Rei was barely able to contain herself. She felt ready to explode. Instead, she calmly picked up the rag, which had now caused a damp spot on her jeans, and coolly handed it back to the waitress.

"You dropped this." Some of her irritation must have came through in her voice, because the waitress cringed. As the waitress took the rag from Rei, Rei normally would have felt a warning of evil in the area, but she was too absorbed (author: no pun intended!) in the fact that she was soaking wet.

The waitress was still very apologetic. "Let me make this up to you," she said to all of them, putting a hand on Minako's shoulder, who happened to be closest. "I can get you a free round of sodas, if you like."

"No, that's all right," Rei said, trying to ignore Meatball Head's laughing, "I'll just go home and change." She suited her words by standing and heading for the door. She paused and turned to her friends. "You guys coming?!" They all stood, and dragging a still laughing Usagi behind her, they followed the Fire Senshi out the door.

On the street, Usagi had finally calmed down to the point where she could talk again.

"We could have waited a bit longer, you know. We could have gotten free drinks!"

"Shut up, Usagi! I'm not going to wait around for a soda while my clothes a soaked through with some cheap soda!"

"Oh, chill Rei," Minako was exceptionally cheery, today, "It isn't like you can't see the humor of the situation."

"But she got you, too," said Rei, "Just look at your shirt." It was true. Minako now sported a dozen small spots of soda down the front of her shirt.

"But, like I said, you can't fail to see the humor of it. A wise man once said 'Laugh and the world laughs at you'."

"That's 'with you', Minako." corrected Ami. Minako laughed.

"Whatever."

***********

After driving for a good, long time, Haruka had stopped off the side of a small road near nothing of any interest and watched the sunset. Luxuriating in the cool breeze that was blowing and the beautiful sight of the red-orange sky at dusk, she just stood there, leaning against the car for what seemed an eternity.

No sound intruded on her peaceful retreat for a long time, so she heard the footsteps long before she saw the owner of said footsteps. Jogging along the road, was man wearing the classic running gear, a jersey, shorts, a headband, and running shoes. He jogged right up to Haruka with an excited look on his face.

"You're Haruka Tenoh, aren't you?"

"Uh, yeah. Who are you?"

"I'm just a fan. I was you race last year at the track. I saw that that turn where you almost hit the wall, but pulled out of it at the last moment." He was really quite excited. Too excited. She really didn't remember any experience like that, but races did have a tendency to blur together. The stranger reached out to take her hand and shake it.

"Wow, wait till I tell my friends that I met Haruka Tenoh the racer!" And with a delighted grin, he jogged off. Haruka had the oddest feeling when he felt, like a residue in the air, oily and heavy. She scrubbed her face with her hands and got back in the car. 'Hopefully, I can go back in the apartment without having to endure _those_ two.'

***********

The Caretakers were watching the progress of this mission, as usual. 

"Was it really necessary to send two?" said the Third.

"Yes," said the Second, "We need these _humans_ energy. If we don't get any, we're doomed." The words hung in the air and the three of them endured an awkward silence. They all knew that the L'Tari were approaching fast. "This just makes it twice as certain that we will get the energy we need." she finished, weakly.

"Twice nothing is still nothing." said the Third.

"Be patient, my friend." The First was as calm and collected as when they had first arrived at the miserable little planet.

"Really? Patient? How am I supposed to be patient?!" the Third roared, "Just what have you been doing to help us? You are doing nothing but preventing us from draining that other one. She seems to have the most energy of the group!"

"I have a plan for her. Be patient." The Third almost hit him. He could do nothing, though. All he could do is sit back and wait.

***********

The forest was huge. It didn't seem to end. The trees loomed on all sides and the grass grew up to Minako's knees. She wandered along a meandering path, like the person who made it had no idea where she was going. It was a good long time before she saw anything. When she did, she immediately wished she hadn't. She saw the same three hideous shapes that she saw in her previous dream. 'What are they doing in a forest,' she thought. She realized that she would be seen if they simply turned around and she quickly hid behind a tree.

As she watched them from concealment, the three odd beings did nothing. They just stood there like the had nothing better to do. Growing bored with this, she settled back against the tree she was hiding behind and looked in the other direction. At the edge of her vision, between the trees, she thought she saw motion. And again. And again. It was getting closer. A low rumble she felt more than heard started to shake the forest. As the motion got closer, it resolved into more definite shapes. Large creatures with many legs and huge, round heads came crashing through the forest at top speed. Minako wanted to run, but if she did, she would have to break cover and let those alien know where she was. The great beasts came nearer and above them, she saw a man, raised on a platform. He seem like a born leader. He was commanding these giant insects, somehow. The strange man was yelling something at the top of his lungs.

"Find them! I will have them if I have to burn this place to the ground! I will make them pay for what they've done!!!" Minako had no idea what to make of it. Who was he searching for? The Scouts? Maybe, but she hadn't seen them in this forest.

She turned around to see if anything had happened to the strange aliens and they were frozen in horror. They somehow knew who this man was and why he was in this forest. Suddenly, the aliens gave a start and turned, only to fling their arms in front of their faces, as if shielding their eyes from a blinding light. Minako couldn't see an such light, but, as if that thought had cued it, a blinding light had appeared for a moment. When it had dissipated, the aliens had been replaced by Sailor Moon. She seemed as if she had no idea of the stampede of giant bugs that were crashing through the forest. Minako yelled out to her to move, but no sound came. The strange man had altered the commands he had been yelling. He was now yelling that Sailor Moon should be taken and questioned, for she knew what had happened to his quarry. The stampede was bare meters away from Sailor Moon and she was still oblivious to the treat. As the horde of creature descended upon her, realization swept over her face and Sailor Moon finally realized that the threat existed. The realization was short lived, for it came just as the strange creatures swept over her and the strange man commanding them started laughing in his triumph.

Minako woke from the Dream panting as if she had run a marathon. She looked at the clock. 12:04 am. For a moment, she contemplated the idea of going back to sleep, but she decided that the Dream was to urgent to ignore till morning. Throwing her covers back, she rushed into the bathroom to take a shower and get ready to leave the house and inform the others about the coming danger.

***********

Returning home, Haruka hesitated going through the front door. She glanced at her watch. It was around 11:30 at night. She had taken her time getting home, so she could be certain that the others were in bed already. Still, they might still be up. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and went inside.

The entryway was dark, as was the living room beyond. She stopped to remove her shoes and coat. Walking into the dark apartment, she was careful to make as little noise as possible. After turning the corner, she saw that a light was on in the kitchen. She went on the defensive, immediately. It could be either Jeff or Michiru. It could also be Hotaru and Setsuna coming back from their 'vacation'. It might also be one of those collectors, come for someone in the house.

Cautiously, she went into the kitchen. Sitting at the table, it was Michiru, wearing her bathrobe and stirring a cup of tea. Haruka visibly relaxed. She had no idea why she had got herself all worked up. 'I guess I'm just tired.'

"Hello, love," Michiru looked up from her tea, "Where've you been?" Some of the amusement from that afternoon still showed on her face. Haruka recoiled in fear. That almost imperceptible smirk on her love's face was mocking her. She had no idea why Michiru harbored such evil thoughts. Michiru's expression changed from mildly amused to concerned shock.

"What's the matter, Haruka? What's wrong?" The tall blonde backed into the wall so hard that the dishes in the cabinets rattled.

"Just stay away from me." Haruka looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights. Michiru was thoroughly confused, and at the same time deeply hurt, that Haruka would treat such a little comment like such a mortal wound. Haruka had said worse to her when she was just teasing. Michiru had no idea why the almost imperturbable wind senshi was acting so oddly. Just then, an extremely tired, very unkempt Jeff stumbled into the kitchen. His hair was sticking in all directions and his eyes were heavy-lidded due to the deep sleep he was just pulled from. At least he was awake enough to pull on a shirt and pair of sweatpants, noted Michiru.

"I heard a loud noise in here," he mumbled, "Is everything all right?" Haruka took one look at him. She remembered the extremely amused expression on his face from that afternoon and, with a horrified expression on her face, she bolted for the door.

The twins just looked at each other with bewildered expressions.

"I know I don't look that good when I wake up," said Jeff, "But that was uncalled for." With that, he stumbled back to his bed and fell right back to sleep.

Michiru just sat there, trying to figure out why her beloved acted so strangely. Possibilities whizzed through her mind. She came to the conclusion that she didn't have any information to base any assumption on. The only way to help her love was to find her and get her to talk about it. If she really was the cause for Haruka's hyper-sensitive state, then she would have to apologize. She thought about getting her brother out of bed, because he was also responsible for hurting Haruka's feelings, and if she had to apologize, he was going to do it, too. She decided that without a god night's sleep, he was in no shape for a delicate situation, so she let him sleep. She got dressed, got her coat, and followed Haruka into the night.

***********

Rei rubbed the sleep out of her eyes while she walked to the corner outside her Temple. She wished that they could meet inside the Temple, but they couldn't risk waking Chad and Grandpa. If that happened, then they would have to come up with an explanation. It was hard enough to get Grandpa to go back to sleep after the phone rang. She shook her head to clear it causing her long, raven black hair to sway in the momentary breeze. Rubbing her eyes again and looking up, she saw an equally tired Ami half-walk, half-stumble up the street. Her blue eyes didn't seem as bright as they usually did. In fact, they seemed rather irritated. Rei knew how she felt. Right now, she felt like she could chew through a fence post. An _aluminum_ fence post. Why did Minako have to drag everyone out of bed at this hour, anyway? Really, that girl could be so inconsiderate at times. She shook her head again. She had no idea why she was getting herself so worked up over this. If it was important Sailor business, then it deserved the attention it was getting. But if it wasn't...

Ami looked up at Rei and as about to say hello, but she stopped herself short and her eyes opened a little wider. The Shinto priestess had a look in her violet eyes that could kill. She was saved from having to endure it alone because the rest of the Inners had finally shown up. Usagi was being dragged along by Makoto, who was doing her best to hold the Moon Princess upright. Minako was wide awake, which seemed odd. Minako usually seemed to be living her life in a dream-like daze. Again, Ami tried to greet a friend, but this time, she was cut off by a thoroughly irritated Rei.

"All right, miss I-have-an-urgent-problem-on-my-hands, why have you dragged us all out of our nice, warm beds tonight?! I was having the most wonderful dream about..." Rei trailed off and she felt heat rush to her cheeks. She wasn't about to tell them all about her dreams, no matter who they were about! (AN: I'll let you all speculate as to who _that_ may be!) She was letting her irritation get to her. She closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down. When she opened them again, she found that the other four girls were all staring at her with the most surprised expression on their faces.

"Uh, Rei?" Makoto was the first to find her voice again. She continued, careful not to further upset her friend, "I know that it's late and it's getting to all of us, but try to keep it down, O.K.? After all, we don't want anyone to wake up and wonder what's going on."

Usagi suddenly had an evil grin on her face. "Rei, who _were_ you dreaming about, anyway?" This made Rei boil inside. She was about to explode at the odango-wearing little imp, but then Luna and Artemis interrupted.

"Girls, please!" Luna wanted to avoid a tongue war at all costs, "We have something obviously important to discuss." A little irritation showed in her voice. She was upset at being woken at this hour, as well.

"Minako, go ahead. Tell them what you told me," Artemis prompted. Minako told them all about the Dream. She told everything in as much detail as she could remember. All though her voice had nothing in it except seriousness, her eyes held nothing but mirth. Usagi was the only one to notice this, though. The others were all engrossed with the fact that these current 'emotional problems' were only the beginning. 

"Do you mind telling us what's so funny?" she blurted. She immediately wished she hadn't because in had gained her six pairs of eyes all staring at her.

"What the hell are you talking about, Usagi?" Rei had had it. She exploded at the blonde girl with an amazing amount of fury. Usagi shrunk back, frightened by Rei sudden outburst. Even on her bad days, Rei wasn't this bad, "This is very serious business! Minako, here, says that there might be another enemy looking for _your_ blood and all you can think are jokes!!!" Rei obviously hadn't been looking at Minako, who was trying her best to not burst out in laughter. When she let a little strangled half-chuckle escape her lips, everyone's eyes were suddenly on her. She couldn't take it any longer and she let it all out.

Between laughter and gasping for air, she managed to get out, "You...guys...are...so...funny...when you...do that!" After which, she went right back into laughing her ass off. The others failed to see what was so funny. Ami pulled out her little computer to scan Minako. Maybe the lack of sleep had done something to her brain.

Not too far away, two people, cloaked by the shadows, watched the little impromptu gathering. One was male and the other, female. This time, they looked a great deal more human. The Caretakers were getting better with their disguises. The female one looked at a little screen on a little device she held in her right hand. Punching a few buttons, she scanned the emotional potential in her victims. Grinning at the results, she angled the device so her partner could view the device. He smiled and concurred with her. They were almost ready. He took the device from her and sped off to find his quarry.

Leaning back against the lamppost, the female collector looked at her watch. Another fifteen minutes, and she could get down to business.

***********

Halfway down to the lot, Haruka realized that she had forgotten Jeff's keys on the counter-top. She didn't stop, though. She just kept running from her fears, just like she had done all her life. Crashing through bushes, dodging around corners, and jumping over fences, she finally found herself in a very dark, very secluded area where every shadow seemed ready to jump out and grab her. As it happened, it was a scrap yard. Jagged pieces of metal and plastic stuck out everywhere. Bits of glass caught what little light there was and they seemed to be eyes in the night, to Haruka,

Finding a somewhat quite and hidden corner to hid herself, Haruka sat down, brought her knees up to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them. Her green eyes darted to the left and the right, searching for anything hidden in the shadows. She could feel sweat run down her back. The night was cool, with a gentle breeze, but she felt like she was in an oven. 

All of a sudden, she heard footsteps. The fear she felt was like a vice; it held her to the spot. She couldn't move. She could barely breathe. The footsteps got closer. The sound was driving her mad. She knew that she should run, get away from the sound, for she knew that whomever the footsteps belonged to wanted to hurt, even kill her. Squeezing her eyes shut and making herself as small as possible, she hoped that whoever it was wouldn't see her and that they would just go away.

Michiru came to the dark, secluded area. The breeze blew her hair back, and if she hadn't paused to feel the wind on her face, she never would have caught the faint scent of Haruka's shampoo in the breeze. Most people would have never noticed such a thing, but since Michiru knew her love so well, it was instinctive. Besides, she loved to run her fingers through Haruka's hair, so of course the scent would be familiar.

She began searching the area to see if Haruka was hiding somewhere. The thought crossed her mind that it would be silly to think that Haruka, of all people, would hide from anything, but in her current state, Haruka might do anything. Pausing and thinking about that fact, she proceeded cautiously. There is no telling what Haruka might do.

From her protected little hide-away, Haruka could hear the footsteps get closer. All of her muscles tensed all at once, the stress amounting almost to pain. Someone rounded the corner and Haruka reflexively squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe it wouldn't notice her.

Michiru saw her love rolled into a tight little ball. She did think that the tall blonde could get into such a compact little shape. Slowly moving closer, she knelt down next to Haruka. Initially, the wind senshi shied away from her touch, but then her eyes fluttered open. For a moment, she only stared at her beloved, then she threw herself into her arms, gripping her tightly. 

"I'm so scared," sobbed Haruka into Michiru's shoulder, "I don't know what to do." All Michiru could do was smooth Haruka's hair and tell her everything was going to be all right. Michiru wished there was someone to comfort her. She had no idea how to help her love. She wished she had someone else there to help. At least then, she might get Haruka home again without the risk of her bolting again.

Just then, a sound, loud when compared to the relative silence around them, caught their attention. Looking up, Michiru saw a large man standing over them. Haruka ripped herself from Michiru's arms and backed herself up against the chain-link fence behind her. 

"Aww, how sweet." The man had a cruel grin on his face. "I hate to interrupt, but if you don't mind, I'll be needing her now." He leveled the device that he had borrowed from his partner at Haruka and pushed the button. For Haruka, the whole world seemed to explode in a sea of light and sound.

***********

The Inner Senshi were all staring at a person that they had previously thought to be of sound mind and body. Minako had just finished her little laughing fit and was now picking herself up of the ground. They were all stunned. No words would come. Taking no notice of her friends' disbelieving looks, she merely stood and dusted herself off.

"Where are ChibiUsa and the Outers?" she asked.

"I tried calling them after you so rudely pulled me out of bed," answered Rei. She was still quite irritated. "There was no answer."

"Luna is out with Artemis, somewhere, probably chasing mice," Usagi made an unsuccessful attempt at humor. Minako laughed, regardless. Usagi continued, " And ChibiUsa looked so peaceful, I just couldn't wake her."

"Oh, that's smart, Usagi. You should have woken her. This is Sailor business and she is a Scout, just like us." The heat in Rei's voice made it quite clear how she felt about Usagi's oversight. 

"Stop it, Rei! I don't need this from you at this hour in the morning!"

"Well, maybe if you got things right, once in a while, I wouldn't have to yell!" This, of course, started the usual tongue war that it usually did. The others tried to intercede, but it was really no use. Even Minako, in her slightly off balance state, tried to help.

"Stay out of this, Minako!" Usagi and Rei said in unison.

"Whatever floods your boat," replied Minako.

"That's '_floats_' your boat, Minako," corrected Ami. She wanted at least something to her way tonight. She had to take every little victory that she could get.

"Oh, I guess it is," said Minako. She giggled at her own little slip-up.

Over in the shadows, the female collector watched this little gathering with increasing disgust. She hated these humans. She glanced at her watch. Almost time. From her vantage point, she could see and hear the girls quite clearly. Taking a small device out of her pocket, she fastened it over her left eye. 'Right about...' she thought. Suddenly, Minako and Rei went ramrod straight and their eyes opened wide. 'Now.'

As soon as they saw Minako and Rei stiffen and stare at nothing, they knew the reason for their odd behavior. The collectors had got to them. The Scouts only had time to register the thought in their minds before the explosion of light and sound swept over them and knocked them to the ground.

The female collector smiled, 'I guess that he got his target, as well.' She launched herself at the still stunned Scouts. She dealt with them easily because they still hadn't had a chance to transform. Doing only enough damage to knock them out, she easily put Ami, Usagi, and Makoto out of the fight. She turned her attention to the four in front of her. She mentally scolded herself. While she was dealing with the others, she had allowed these four to transform. The duplicate Scouts were facing off with their counterparts. She felt a little relief in the fact that she didn't have to deal with the same problem that her predecessors did. The little device over her eye told her everything she needed to know.

Sailor Venus gave her head a vigorous shake. She still couldn't deal with having another one of her in front of her. What was more disturbing was the fact that her duplicate had the same look on her face as she had in her Dream. She quickly glanced over to Sailor Mars and her double. They were already throwing arrows of fire and other flaming object at each other. Venus's double took this lapse in concentration as an invitation and was about to attack. Venus looked back to her counterpart just in time to see silvery threads encircle it. The strange woman had her hands extended and she held the threads that held her double and the ones that were wrapping up Sailor Mars's evil twin.

A look of triumph spread over the female collector's face. She had won! She had completed her mission! Even now, the threads were draining the doppelganger's of life and sending the solidified energy to the Caretaker's ship in orbit. Throwing her head back and laughing, she allowed herself a moment to revel in her glory. After she was done with her little celebration, she observed the battlefield once again and realized her error. She had both hands busy in draining her targets. If she let go of one, she would lose all of the energy that she had yet to collect. If she didn't, she'd be dead. The Scouts were all ready up and ready. The one with the odangos even had that little gem out and ready. The two targets looked pissed. The one with the yellow-orange fuku stepped closer and fired.

"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" Bracing for impact, the collector thought she would be the one to go, but the blast hit her duplicate, instead. The Venusian double disappeared in a flash of light and the hopes that the collector had harbored until now vanished with it. Sailor Mars quickly followed suit and the collector's mission was turned from success to failure.

Sailor Moon raised the Silver Crystal over her head. Calling out the words to activate it, she felt a familiar sense of being drained as the white light lanced out from the gem to wipe the collector from the face of the Earth. Usagi smiled and put the Crystal back in the brooch at her chest. The adrenaline left her system and it seemed to take her knees with it. She fell to the ground. She felt weak, tired beyond anything she had felt before. The only other times when she had felt this tired was after battles when the Crystal had made taxing demands on her body. She dimly aware of her friends gathering around her before she passed out into a blackness deeper than sleep.

***********

Michiru rose and pulled her henshin stick from her pocket. The blast had knocked her clear across the yard and she had landed on something sharp. Ignoring the pain, she lifted the stick high and shouted the words to transform herself. Sailor Neptune cast her gaze about the scrap yard. She didn't have to look long to find what she was looking for. She saw two Sailor Uranuses squaring off in the same area that she had just been forced to evacuate. She ran towards the fight, only to be stopped by a dark figure stepping out from the shadows.

The male collector extended his hands towards Sailor Neptune. The gossamer threads snaked out to grab her even as she tried to attack. The threads enveloped her and she could feel her energy being drained away.

"Oh, well, it's not emotional energy, but I'm sure that the Caretakers wouldn't mind for this little extra." He grinned, evilly.

Over across the lot, twin Sailor Uranuses fought for their lives. Both had drawn rapiers, their Pure Heart treasures, and even though neither was a very good swordswoman, they put on quite a show. The metallic clang of blade meeting blade rang through out the area. One of them seemed to falter. The other took advantage and pressed her attack. She fought her double back further and further. A bold swipe caused the double to jump back, which brought her right up against a piece of metal that was very sharp and quite painful. She felt the cold metal enter her body and the _real_ Sailor Uranus finished her double with a final thrust of the blade. The double faded and was gone.

On the other side of the scrap yard, Sailor Neptune felt as if she was going to faint. She was about to give up when, from atop a pile of scrap, came a shout, "Don't you harm my sister!!!" Prince Neptune flew from the top of the stack of metal and brought the glowing head of the Trident through the spider web-like threads that held Sailor Neptune. The cords fell from around her. She felt her energy returning as soon as the connection was severed. Her brother came to her side.

"Are you all right? I followed when I realized no one was home. It's a good thing I did." Michiru didn't hear everything he said. She was too occupied with cruel thoughts concerning the collector in front of her.

"Let's get rid of that first." She indicated the collector standing in front of her with a bewildered expression on his face. He hadn't expected more of them to show up. "He hurt my Haruka and he tried to kill me." Jeff had to take a step back. He had never seen his sister this angry at anything in his life. He thought about it for a second and then he understood. He grinned.

"You want to show him what we can do?"

"Yes. Lets."

They stood back to back, Prince Neptune held the Trident loosely in his left hand and had his right side facing the enemy. Sailor Neptune stood in a similar manner, with a hateful look in her eye for the collector. They spoke in unison.

"It's time to show you the full power of the Storm and the Sea!!" They raised one hand, Prince Neptune rose his right, Sailor Neptune, her left. Storm clouds seemed to gather above them.

"Neptune Hurricane....!!!" Water pooled around their feet. The collector stepped back so he wouldn't have to stand in it. You never knew what one of the attacks did, or how they'd be delivered, though this one seemed self-evident.

"...Devastation!" The water at their feet rose up in a humongous tidal wave and the storm clouds surged forth. The collector was caught in a maelstrom of water and wind. It was as if he was a small ship on rough seas during a storm to end all storms. He was sinking beneath the waves. Gasping for breath, he knew he was done for. As the wind threw the waves over his head, he breathed his last, and then was no more.

The Twins fell to the ground. That attack had taken a lot out of them and now, they felt as if they had run a marathon. Sailor Uranus came running over.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't help you guys," she said.

"That's all right, love, you had a problem of your own to deal with," replied Sailor Neptune. She let herself de-transform and immediately wished she didn't. Her senshi powers had obviously buffered her from feeling the drain on her body from that attack. She fell face first to the ground and she lay there for a moment to take a few deep breaths before standing. Haruka reached down and helped her up. Prince Neptune was using his Trident to help himself stand and the three of them started to make their way home.

Something had been bugging Haruka since Jeff had made his entrance and she finally remembered to ask him.

"Hey, Jeff. How did you know where find us?" Jeff grinned.

"I didn't."

"Huh?"

"The Ruby did. He sensed your energy." Duh. Haruka felt a little stupid. She should have known that the Ruby would have had something to do with it. To hid her embarrassment, she was ready with another question.

"All right, wise guy. How did you know to come after us? I mean, you were asleep, right?"

"Well," he began, "I woke up because I thought I heard the phone ring, but I was too late to answer it. The Ruby then tells me that you guys were gone and that he thought something weird was going on." Of course, the Ruby again. Haruka decided that she'd have to give that little gem a little more credit from now on.

Coming to the apartment and letting themselves in, they immediately went for their respective bedrooms. Jeff closed his door and flopped down on his bed, still dressed as Prince Neptune. He was _that_ tired.

Laying Michiru down on their bed, Haruka laid down next to her and got under the covers.

"Haruka, honey," said the sea senshi.

"Hmm?"

"If you ever feel afraid, don't hesitate to tell me." Haruka felt a little chagrined. She had always felt that she was to protect Michiru, not the other way around. Before she could respond, Michiru continued. "And I'm sorry for what happened this afternoon." Haruka smiled.

"Apology accepted, dear." Haruka leaned over to Michiru and kissed her and they fell asleep in each other's arms.

***********

Usagi came to and she found that she was lying on Rei's bed. She raised her head and found her friends all around her. 

"How long...?" That was all she was able to get out. She immediately felt dizzy and put her head back down on the pillow.

"Four hours." replied Rei. "Can you stand?"

"I think so, just give me a minute." It took her a few tries, but she got to her feet and was able to stand with only a minimal amount of assistance from Makoto.

"I think you've been using the Crystal too much." Luna went right to the point, as usual. "It's taxing your systems. You shouldn't rely on it so much."

"It's all right, Luna, I can handle it."

"No, you can't, Usagi! If you'd only listen to me..."

"Oh, I'll just have Ami take a look at it later, all right? I'm too tired to deal with this now." Luna relented and the girls made their way home. Luna worried about her. She still didn't act like the princess she should. Luna knew that the time they had was limited. They didn't have much time until Usagi had to ascend to the Throne and become Neo-Queen Serenity. She sighed and continued home. Perhaps after a good night's sleep. she'd figure out a way to get Usagi to act he way she should.

***********

The Second glared at the others.

"How could you let this happen? I thought you had trained them better?!"

"Hey, you had a part to play in this, too." countered the Third.

"Yeah, but my devices worked the way they were supposed too!!" This little argument was cut short by the First.

"Will you be quiet!" This display of emotion was uncharacteristic for him. He was feeling the stress of constant failure. "The L'Tari will be here any day now. It is time to put my plan in to action." As he laid out his plans before the others, wide grins grew on their faces. This next target would give them everything they needed. The L'Tari wouldn't have a chance against them if this succeeded and with the looks on the Caretaker's faces, they would make certain that they did. They would make the universe tremble and the L'Tari would finally know who ruled over them.


	7. Time's Up

6/15/01

I have no idea how to convert dollars into yen, so just assume they use American dollars, all right?

"Thank you"s go to PriestessMars, for inspiration and proofreading, and to everyone who reviewed my fic, because they gave me motivation to write the next episode!

One quick note: I know that the settings are getting a little repetitive, but I am running out of ideas of places to put the Scouts, so if you can help with that, it would be greatly appreciated.

Standard disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. Naoko Takeuchi-sama does. I just wish I had Ami-chan. My birthday is next month, Naoko. *hint, hint* Anyway, I do own Prince Neptune, the Knowledge Ruby, the Caretakers, and the L'Tari. Any unauthorized use of them will be prosecuted with extreme prejudice.

Episode 7:

Time's Up

The relatively warm roll sliding down her throat was a sharp contrast to the milk poured in afterward. They made her shiver as she finished packing the rest of the basket. This being one of the first warm days of spring, Makoto had been invited to a picnic with everyone else. She had made enough for twenty, which she would probably need. She had seen the guys eat twice as much as she thought they would. At times, she thought they had taken lessons from Usagi.

Hefting the heavy basket, she reached in and shifted a few things around so it wouldn't be so awkward to carry. Heading for the door, she heard the doorbell ring. 'Excellent timing.' she thought, wryly. She opened the door to see John standing there, waiting for her. 

"Ready?" he asked. Makoto smiled at him.

"Sure. And you can carry this for me." She handed him the basket. She had to stop a grin from appearing on her face. She found it so funny that he would do anything for her, if he thought she wanted him to do it. She also found the look on his face hilarious. Whenever she asked a favor of him, he always seemed like he never saw it coming.

She guided him down to his car where they had to come up with an inventive way to stuff the basket in his trunk. The thing was _huge_! They drove to the park where they were to meet everyone else. They had no idea that they were being monitored from high above.

***********

The Third irritably rounded on the First. "Well?" He asked, "Are you going to put this highly talked about plan of yours into action?"

"Yeah!" agreed the Second. A profound feeling of anger toward the First obscured her usual serene nature. "When is this little plan of yours going to work? And who are we supposed to send down to implement it?"

The First coolly regarded his companions and smiled, "Why, we are going to oversee this one." The other two Caretakers couldn't believe their ears.

"Us?!" said the Second at the same time the Third said, "You must be crazy!" He silenced them with a wave of his hand and held up a small crystal vile. It seemed to contain some sort of white powder.

"This, my friends, is the powder that gives our minions the power to infect the humans we target."

"I knew that," said the Second, "I created the damn stuff." The First continued as if he hadn't been so rudely interrupted.

"This powder, of course, has been altered. This vial contains powder ten times more potent than what our minions use. We will use this to infect our next target." The others just looked at him. They still couldn't get over the fact that _he_ was going to oversee this mission. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do."

***********

Stretching out on the blanket, Usagi basked in the sunlight filtering through the leaves of the tree that towered over the area that Mamoru had selected for the picnic. She turned her head to look at him. She loved to look at her Mamoru. He turned around and their eyes met. He leaned over and kissed her. It felt like the moment would go on forever.

"Will you two get a room?!" said Rei. Whoops! Usagi had forgotten all about the others. She felt her face grow warm. Everyone had their eyes on her and Mamoru. Haruka had an amused smile on her face, but then again, she almost always did whenever someone was caught in a compromising situation. Usagi noticed that Mamoru looked a little embarrassed, as well. Finally, everyone went back to what ever it was they were doing. 

It really was quite a picturesque scene. She noticed that Makoto and John were doing what Mamoru and her were just doing. Making an irritated noise, she realized that Rei was just being mean, again. She continued to observe the scene. Jeff and Ami had found a tree to sit against. Ami was leaning against Jeff and he had an arm around her. It would have seemed normal, except they both had books. Jeff had a thick fantasy novel and Ami had a small book of Spanish phrases. Leave it to those two to make an outing into a lesson. Shuddering with sudden thoughts of unfinished schoolwork, Usagi turned her attention to what everyone else was doing. Haruka and Michiru were having a conversation with Rei, but Usagi couldn't hear what they were saying, no matter how she strained. Minako was playing with ChibiUsa. 'Good,' thought Usagi, 'That'll keep the little brat busy.' 

Sitting up, she reached for the basket again to get another one of Makoto's culinary creations. She found what she was looking for and she was about to shove it in her face when she looked up and saw something she didn't expect to see, at least, not at this picnic. She called for the other's attention and they all had similar expressions on their faces when they saw what Usagi was gaping at.

There, they saw two women. Well, one was a woman, but the other no more than a girl. The girl, about thirteen years old, was dressed in very dark clothing, with a deep purple, wide brimmed hat resting on her head. She was carrying a small picnic basket in both hands. Her face, peaking out from under the shady brim of her hat, was pale when compared to the deep black and purple hues of her clothing, but she was smiling enough to make the deepest night seem like day.

The woman was easily as tall as Mamoru, with long dark hair falling to her knees. She wore a lavender jacket over a white blouse and a matching skirt. At first glance, one would have said that she seemed to be about twenty-five years old, but upon closer inspection, she seemed ageless. She, too, was smiling brightly. The others couldn't believe their eyes. They were all about to speak, but ChibiUsa found her voice first and yelled to greet her friend.

"HOTARU!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Hotaru barely had enough time to put the basket down before ChibiUsa barreled into her. After a fierce hug, ChibiUsa immediately began questioning her friend about where she had been and what she had been doing. Setsuna watched the two for a moment and then turned her attention to the group of Scouts before her.

"So," said Haruka, "You two are finally back."

"The apartment feels empty without you," said Michiru.

"Yes, but you have another roommate to fill the space," said Setsuna. She turned to the person in question. "Hello, Jeff."

Jeff nodded and smiled, "It's a pleasure, Setsuna." All of the others could only gape at the two of them. How the hell did they know each other? Setsuna and Jeff looked at their companions startled expressions and Jeff quickly explained. "The Ruby told me." Damn Ruby. Almost everyone's expressions changed from disbelief to mild irritation. Setsuna quickly spoke, in order to take attention away from Jeff. A few of the Scouts looked more than just irritated.

"When Hotaru and I saw all of you having a picnic, we decided to join you. We needed a break after watching the Time Stream for so long."

Over where she was playing with ChibiUsa, Hotaru suddenly looked up and scanned the area for something. She didn't know what, but she was sure it was dangerous. It was a faint feeling, but it was there.

"Hotaru, what's wrong?" asked ChibiUsa.

"Something is not right here. There is something evil here." The tone of Hotaru's voice wasn't very convincing. Luna and Artemis looked at each other. They didn't feel anything. Rei closed her eyes and tried to sense something in the area, but she, too, felt nothing. Jeff and the Ruby didn't feel anything and Mamoru was sure that if whatever it was threatened Usagi or ChibiUsa, he'd be sure to feel it.

"Are you sure?" said Rei, "I can't sense a thing."

"Maybe your time in the Time Corridor has just made your senses get a little rusty," said Setsuna, "I'm sure you're just imagining it."

"If you say so, Setsuna-mama."

Back among the bushes the entity that set off Hotaru's alarm, namely the First Caretaker, readied his device. It was small, compact, and shaped like a water pistol. In fact, that's exactly what it was, an incredibly accurate, high-tech, water pistol. It contained a solution made from the concentrated powder that he showed to the others that morning. Reaching forward and pulling back a few braches from a bush, he took careful aim at his target. Just before he pulled the trigger, a bird lit on a branch next to him and the little creature gave him an idea. Slowly, he crawled to the base of the tree under which the blanket, and his target, were situated.

Usagi maneuvered herself into what she considered the perfect position. The picnic basket was right in front of her, she was leaning against Mamoru, the tree looming over them provided an excellent amount of shade, and she could see Hotaru and ChibiUsa a few meters in front of her playing. Somehow, they had got Haruka and Minako to participate in some game that they had obviously made up five minutes before they started and they were still making it up as they went. Every time Haruka or Minako tried to leave the game, or at least suggest a rule to make it easier on them, the little girls just said no because it was their job to say who did what and when they did it. After all, it _was_ their game. Usagi was about to take another bite of her _third_ sandwich, she felt some thing clod hit her back. Something cold and wet. Something cold, wet, and seeping through the back of her shirt.

"Ah, gross!!!" screamed Usagi. Whatever it was, it was very unpleasant. She looked up into the trees to search for the winged beast that did this to her, but she only saw the rustle of leaves where the culprit was just a moment before.

"What's the matter, Usagi?" asked Mamoru. He was used to Usagi's outbursts, but this time he was caught off guard because he was thinking about something he had just felt. It was a vague feeling, like something was watching him.

"Some bird just shit on me!" Everyone's attention instantly turned to Usagi. They had never heard her swear before. Never! Not in the thousand years they had known her. No one quite knew how to react to that. Rei's first thought was to scold her for swearing where children cold hear, but then she thought differently. If Usagi was this mad, she didn't know how she would react to a lecture. Jeff thought someone had taken away his princess and replaced her with an imposter. Haruka wanted to applaud and Michiru, knowing her love so well, stopped her before she said anything. Minako could only gape at Usagi. She had no idea that Usagi even _knew_ those kind of words! ChibiUsa leaned closer to Hotaru to ask what that word meant. Hotaru could only shake her head, still staring at Usagi.

"What the hell are you all staring at?!" She did it again. This time, no one knew what to think. Mamoru decided he better try to handle this.

"Usagi, honey," the glare she turned on him made him swallow, "Maybe I should take you home."

"Yeah, maybe...Oh, DAMN IT!" Setsuna covered Hotaru's ears, who, in turn, covered ChibiUsa's. "There is nobody home and I don't have my fucking key!" Even Haruka was shocked. Jeff was so startled that he choked on a mouthful of salad and Ami started patting him on the back to help him dislodge a piece of carrot.

Everyone just watched as Mamoru guided Usagi to his car to take her to his place so she could wash her shirt. The Outers agreed to take ChibiUsa to their place, which was fine by ChibiUsa because she wanted to play some more with her friend.

During the whole ride home, Mamoru remained silent, afraid that one word would get Usagi going again.

***********

Dropping himself onto the couch in his living room, Mamoru let out a long sigh. After Usagi had tripped and almost fallen down a few dozen flights of stairs, she had let out a string of curses that would have made the most crude construction worker cover his ears in embarrassment. He could hear her moving about the apartment. First, she was in the laundry room, putting her shirt in the wash. Next, she took a good long shower. She complained about feeling dirty, due to the, uh, crap. Mamoru couldn't blame her. As long as she was going to be in the same spot for a while, Mamoru decided that he could relax a bit. He went into the kitchen to find a snack. Being a bachelor's kitchen, there wasn't much in it. There was a box of crackers in the cupboard, and a few assorted items in the fridge, nothing that would make a decent snack. Mamoru considered Usagi's present mood, he thought it would be a good idea to have some food in the house when she got out of the shower, so he dialed up the pizza place and ordered a 12-cut with pepperoni on all of it and mushrooms on half of it. He hung up the phone and he heard the water in the bathroom shut off. 

As he heard the bathroom door open, he called out, "Usagi, grab one of my shirts to wear, if yours isn't done, yet." He didn't get a response, but he did hear Usagi's footsteps go into his bedroom and Usagi shutting the door. 'Geez, she must really be mad, if I'm not even getting a response.'

Sitting down on the couch again, he heard his bedroom door open. He thought it was odd because he didn't think she could get ready that fast. Women always take an hour and a half to get ready for anything. His second surprise came when Usagi entered the living room wearing only one of his shirts and nothing else. It hung down to her knees and her hair had been taken out of the odangos, letting it fall freely down her back. The biggest surprise was the wicked little smile on her face.

"Oh, Mamoru, I feel so bad for what I said earlier," if anything, the smile got even more wicked, "I just want to make it up to you, somehow." By this time, she had made it to the couch and she was in the process of sitting down next to Mamoru when Mamoru's brain started working again. 'Wait a minute!' the thought screamed inside his head, 'She never acts like this! And she's only sixteen. She can't possibly mean what I think she means, could she?'

He looked over at his girlfriend and the look on her face and the gleam in her eye said that she most certainly did mean exactly what he was thinking. Mamoru froze like a deer in the headlights. He had always wanted something like this, but he never dreamed of getting it because she _was_ only sixteen. His mind divided and argued with itself. Finally, the gentlemanly side won out and he decided to cling to his ethics. As she inched closer to him, he moved farther away. This went on until he was pushed up against the arm of the couch. When he had no more room, Usagi moved so she was right up against him. She leaned up and whispered something that made his ears burn. And then the doorbell rang.

Thank God for the pizza guy. Mamoru bolted for the door. He opened it so fast that the delivery guy was startled and took a step back.

"Uh, large pepperoni and mushroom?"

"Yeah, thanks," said Mamoru, "Here." Mamoru thrust a twenty at him, not caring about change. The guy deserved a huge tip for unwittingly saving Mamoru from his slowly crumbling ethics.

The pizza served as an excellent distraction. Usagi's mind was now thinking about her stomach and she promptly tore into the pizza. Sitting back down on the couch, Mamoru let out a sigh of relief. 'This is going to be a long day.'

***********

Staring at the main viewer, the Second Caretaker couldn't believe her eyes. That little blonde girl was acting so bizarre. Even under the influence of one of her creations, she shouldn't be acting this odd. Still, it was pretty funny, watching the poor guy trying to retain his morals while dealing with his extremely emotional girlfriend. She was actually a bit disappointed when the pizza arrived. 

"You're becoming a voyeur." From behind her, she heard the voice of the Third. She couldn't believe that he'd have the nerve to mock her! With a grin, she turned to retaliate, but she never got a chance to, due an exclamation from the officer from tactical.

"Sir, I have a number of ships on long range sensors, possibly L'Tari. I estimate about a dozen ships."

The Third jumped to his feet. "Where are they?"

"They are a few light-years off, sir. They appear to be sweeping the area, sector by sector."

"How long until they discover us?"

"I estimate about fourteen earth hours, sir. They don't appear to be in any hurry."

"Still," interrupted the Second, "We don't have much time. We must tell our comrade about the situation."

"Yes, of course." The Third was inclined to just leave him on the surface and get out of the system, but that might be a tactical error. Leaving a source of information on the surface to be interrogated wasn't a very good idea. "Open a channel."

***********

Blowing on his slice of pizza to cool it off, Mamoru continued to mentally thank the pizza guy for arriving when he did. Usagi was happily stuffing her face, miraculously not getting any sauce on Mamoru's clean white shirt. As she ate, Mamoru marveled at how it was like watching a black hole. Nothing was able to escape. She saw him looking her way, and she flashed a huge smile. Mamoru heaved a mental sigh of relief that the wicked smile she had shown earlier hadn't resurfaced.

"This...pizza...is...delicious. Thank you...Mamoru," Usagi managed to say between mouthfuls. Mamoru laughed. She was so adorable like that. He was about to say so, when the doorbell rang, again. Mamoru was puzzled. He wasn't expecting company. Before he was able to get up and answer the door, he heard it swing open, someone small come through, and shut the door. He recognized those footsteps. The pink haired little girl came into view, with a bright smile on her face as she ran to give her future father a big hug.

ChibiUsa followed Mamoru into the living room. She stopped short when she saw the delirious look on Usagi's face. Her eyes opened a little wider when she saw that her future mother was wearing only one of Mamoru's shirts, and nothing else. She wondered if this was one of those things she would understand when she was older. Grown-ups seemed to say that quite a bit when they didn't want to explain themselves.

'Oo, she always has to come and ruin my time with Mamoru,' thought Usagi, 'I bet she wants the last slice of pizza, too!' Sure enough, ChibiUsa did. Usagi wasn't even able to stop her. Not only did Mamoru offer it to her, but ChibiUsa had her mother's affinity for free food, and her speed, as well.

"So, um, what are you two doing?" asked ChibiUsa around a mouthful of pizza.

"Uh, we were, uh..." Mamoru couldn't come up with an answer. However, Usagi provided a magnificent distraction because she, all of a sudden, burst out laughing.

"You are so funny, Mamoru!" Usagi was now laughing so hard that she had tears in her eyes. She thought that his broken speech and uncertainty were the funniest things in the world. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a little voice told her that this wasn't really that funny, but it was a little voice, and easily ignored.

Mamoru and ChibiUsa could only stare at her. What was wrong with her? They just looked at each other and sighed. 

"Well, Usagi's just Usagi, I guess," offered Mamoru as if that would explain everything. ChibiUsa only nodded and began finishing her pizza.

***********

Minako and Rei were sitting in a cafe in downtown Tokyo. They were sipping at their drinks and watching the people go by. Well, mostly, they were watching the guys go by.

"This sucks," said Minako, "Everyone else has a guy to keep them company, and here we sit doing nothing!" 

"Michiru and Haruka don't have guys," replied Rei. She had to say something to keep her from thinking about not having a boyfriend.

"You know what I mean."

"At least you have company," said Rei, "Ami's off with Jeff somewhere, probably reading, or something. Makoto's at the park with John," Minako smiled at that. John was always being forced into one thing or another, just to satisfy Makoto. "And Usagi is, of course, with Mamoru," finished Rei.

"Yeah, well you have Chad," said Minako. She knew that would get some kind of comment out of Rei.

"What?! He wishes!!!" Yep. Minako was right. As Rei continued to go on and on about not liking Chad - she denied it so vehemently, she might as well admit that she was attracted to him - Minako's thoughts wandered back to that man she saw in her last 'Dream'. He was attractive enough, but he was so maniacal that Minako was a little repulsed. She was surprised to find that she wasn't as repulsed as she should be. Sipping on her drink and only half listening to Rei's little speech - she was onto how he dressed. She was able to describe it in so much detail, that it was obvious that she paid a lot of attention to it - Minako continued to think about the strange 'man of her dreams' while she watched the people go by.

***********

On the Caretaker's ship, everything was in a heightened state of awareness. With over a dozen enemy ships not forty lights years away, the small craft was in danger of being discovered.

"Hail him again!" The Third was barking out orders. The First was not answering hails. That could mean a few things. One, he was refusing to answer, which was likely, but why would he do such a thing? Two, his communicator was broken. This possibility was just as likely. Three, he was either captured or killed. The Third didn't want to think about this possibility, but there it was.

"Sir, if we keep sending out transmissions, we risk the chance of being discovered."  
"DO IT ANYWAY!"

"Aye, sir." The comm officer tried to make himself as small as possible. He didn't want to be target of one of his superior's infamous 'tantrums'.

The Second was a little more reserved. She was considering the possibility that they might have to go down to the surface to search for him. She hoped that that wouldn't be necessary. If it was, though, she would do it. The First had gotten them out of the tightest situations, and if he needed her help, she would give it, gladly, and she was sure that the Third felt the same way.

The comm officer continued to hail the First, with no response.

***********

As soon as the Outer Senshi had arrived home, ChibiUsa said something about her mother needing special attention, and she took off. Hotaru was a little depressed about ChibiUsa leaving so abruptly, but she had other things to occupy her time, like getting settled in her old room, again, so she quickly forgot about it.

Haruka was wondering why Setsuna and Hotaru had returned so soon. They were supposed to be gone longer. When she asked Setsuna about it, Setsuna hesitated.

"C'Mon, Setsuna. Out with it."

"I'd like to say that it's only because I missed my family." Her smile included everyone, including Jeff. Seeing that no one was going to let the topic drop, she continued, "Well, you see, there is a...problem in the Time Stream." Everyone in the room tensed. A problem there could mean a problem everywhere, and every-when. "Usually, when I want to watch someone from the Time Stream, I can see them clearly, even in the lowest light or around the most concealing obstructions."

No one knew what she was getting at. Jeff, being the one with the least prickly sense of tact, was the one to ask what the hell she was talking about. Setsuna hesitated again before answering.

"I can't see the Sailor Scouts clearly at all. When I want to check up on them or their, no, _your_ future, all I get are fuzzy half-images. I can only see what is going on right now, so for that purpose, at least, the Time Gate is useless. It's as if events are shifting around all of you so quickly and violently that the future for us is uncertain, at best. I returned to Tokyo to keep a closer eye on things."

"What about Crystal Tokyo?" asked Michiru. Setsuna shrugged.

"I don't know. Depending on what we do now, it may never exist."

"We have to tell Usagi and the others about this." said Jeff.

"No! We shouldn't!" snapped Haruka, "You know them. If they get wind of this, then they'll all try something stupid to change it. We just have to make sure that nothing happens to the Princess." When he looked ready to provide a counter argument, she continued, "I don't think you want her, or Ami, to put themselves in danger for some vague promise of stopping a threat that might not even exist." He failed to come up with a response for that. 

"Could this have something to do with those emotion-draining aliens?" asked Michiru. If she was going to be the only one focused on the real problem here, then so be it!

"I don't think so," said Setsuna, "In fact, when I looked ahead a little, I didn't see the Caretakers, at all." She noticed the blank stares she got and realized that they didn't know that that was what the aliens called themselves. She explained it to them. Again, she hesitated about telling them something they shouldn't already know. It was dangerous to mess with Time. But seeing as though it was already messed with, it couldn't hurt to provide a little extra information.

"I can tell you that this is only the beginning. The Caretakers aren't the real threat. Be on your guard during the next few weeks. It's going to get ugly."

***********

The First ignored his communicator again. He damn thing was going off every five seconds! Did they not trust him to accomplish his mission? He kept his attention on the small gathering inside the apartment. The target was there, wearing surprisingly little, a former target, who had yielded depressingly little energy, and another potential target, who had been rejected due to her young age, and therefore, volatile emotions. 

The First checked his gauge again. Another fifteen Earth minutes until this target yielded maximum energy output. When he looked up again, the target was gone, including the other two. Where did they go? He let some particularly vile curses slide between his lips, and he quickly scanned the area for her.

***********

High above, the other two Caretakers had a slightly larger problem on their hands.

"Status on the approaching ships!" yelled the Third.

"They have spotted us, sir! They have raised shields and are charging weapons!"

"Dammit!" the Second cursed, uncharacteristically, "Raise shields and charge all weapons!" The Third frowned at the Second for taking away some of his duties. He knew that it was a childish thing, but _he_ wanted to give the order to charge weapons. He didn't say anything about it though, this was no time to be arguing about such things.

The first hit rocked the ship. 

The tactical officer reported, "They've opened fire!"  
"I know that, you moron! Return fire!" bellowed the Third.

"Status report!" commanded the Second.

"Shields at 87%. Damage to decks 8, 12, and 16."

Another shot made the ship seem to tumble. The crew was tossed to the deck and fires sprouted from many of the consoles on the bridge. The Second looked at her comrade and, in his eyes, she saw was she knew was mirrored in her own. This was the end of the Caretakers. 

***********

The General watched as his fleet tore into the last remaining ship of the Caretaker's forces.

"Scan them again. Are you sure that only two of them are aboard?"

"Aye, sir."

General Parlos had to be certain that all three of the accursed Caretakers were aboard that ship.

"Confirmed, sir. Sensors show only two of the Caretakers aboard that ship."

"Destroy it. Start scanning the planet for the last one." Destroy them. Those were his orders. It was truly a blessing to him, really. The Caretakers had scourged his planet, killed his family. He only had his brother left. 

The expanding cloud of iridescent gas shown on the viewscreen, which was formerly the Caretaker's ship, made the General smile. 

"Only one left to go. I will have my revenge."

***********

The dryer had shut off, and Usagi jumped up to get the clothes. As soon as she was dressed, the three of them headed out the door.

"Where do you want to go, girls?" asked Mamoru.

"I don't care, as long as it's with you, Mamoru," said Usagi, dreamily. ChibiUsa just sighed at her future mother. She was acting so spacey, even for her!

Usagi seemed to be leading Mamoru somewhere, but on closer inspection, she didn't seem to know where she was going, either. She just kept on clutching Mamoru's arm, like she was afraid he'd run off if she let go. Their wanderings lead them to a secluded, wooded area, some distance from Downtown Tokyo, about a half-hour's walk.

The first thing Mamoru felt was a tremendous felling of unease. Something was wrong here, something evil. He could feel it. ChibiUsa had the same feelings of unease. Mostly due to the way her future father was cautiously eyeing the surrounding landscape. Usagi still seemed unaware that anything was wrong.

"ChibiUsa, call the others. We might need their help," Mamoru told ChibiUsa. He didn't know what was out there, but he knew that whatever it was, it wasn't here for a walk in the park. ChibiUsa did as she was told, all the while, trying to keep an eye on...well...whatever it was that was out there.

"Mamoru? What's wrong?" Usagi finally felt the heaviness in the air, and she was beginning to get worried, too. A voice answered her question from the cover of the bushes.

"Nothing at all, my dear. Nothing at all." A small being stepped out from his cover. He was small, green, and hideously ugly. Usagi gave a small shriek when she saw him, and he laughed at her reaction. "In fact, everything is going according to plan."

He held up the high-tech squirt gun again and opened a small panel on the side. He pushed the button he had uncovered, and Usagi froze in place, shock painting her face. He pushed it again, and she disappeared in a brilliant flash of light.

Mamoru and ChibiUsa had to turn away and cover their eyes to avoid being blinded. When they looked back, they saw twin Sailor Moons looking at each other like they had no idea what was going on. The strange being was laughing harder, now.

"I _will_ bring the L'Tari to their knees!" L'Tari? Who the hell are they? Mamoru and ChibiUsa exchanged confused looks.

"Well, we can't wait for the others to get here. Let's get on with this," said Mamoru. ChibiUsa nodded, took her brooch and transformed. She found that by the time she was done, Mamoru had already transformed and was standing in front of the alien an demanding that he answer the questions.

"What have you done to her?!" 

"Nothing, really. I just want her energy." He alien smirked at Tuxedo Kamen. It wasn't a pleasant sight. ChibiUsa was infuriated. How dare he do this to her mother?! She pulled out the small wand and aimed it at the offender. She had no idea what she was going to do with it, it only fired those annoying little pink hearts, but she had to do something to save Sailor Moon. She felt a new power grow within her.

"Moonlight Razor Ribbons!"

The result was a set of glowing, pink ribbons that flowed from the wand that made razors seem like feathers. The alien jumped out of the way, almost avoiding the attack. The ribbons caught him in the chest and on the chin. His hand flew to his chest, and he felt a sticky wetness. He pulled his hand away to find it covered in blood.

"That wasn't very nice." His voice sounded surprisingly calm. "You shouldn't have done that." As he finished the sentence, he began to change. His body began pulsing and growing. ChibiUsa and Mamoru weren't sure what was happening, but it chilled them to the bone.

Both Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon were looking at her respective counterpart. They had identical confused looks on their faces. Neither had any idea what was going on. They had absolutely no desire to harm one another, even though they know that was how the doppelgangers worked. 

"This isn't right," said one.

"I know. Shouldn't we be doing something?" said the other. Before the first Sailor Moon could answer, their attention was drawn to the increasingly hideous beast facing Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor MiniMoon. 

It was snarling, drooling, and a thick, viscous slime coated it from head to toe. Both Sailor Moons felt a tremendous repulsion towards the beast, and the Silver Crystal, which was now floating halfway between the two, flashed with a brilliant light.

Enraged by the purest of Light, the monster lunged at both Sailor Moons. They both braced for impact, but none came. Tuxedo Kamen had placed himself between them and the beast and he was currently exchanging blows with it. Suddenly, the monster reared up and threw Tuxedo Kamen against a nearby tree. He fell to the ground and didn't move. Sailor Moon, both of them, tried to run to him, but the evil being got in front of her. In some strange, guttural voice, it spoke.

"I will have you _and_ my victory!"

Just then, nine voices cried out in unison.

"Hold it right there!"

The cavalry had arrived. The Sailor Senshi stood proud and defiant against the evil creature. They had surrounded the beast, and they were preparing to attack. Normally, this would have had the bad guy worried, but this time, he grinned. If such a thing could be called a grin. 

Sailor Uranus, Sailor Jupiter, and Prince Neptune were the first ones in. The Trident making a blue blur around Prince Neptune's body, the Sword flashing in the sun in Haruka's hands, and Jupiter's fists balled up tight, they charged in and tried to take it down, hand to hand. The beast, almost contemptuously, swiped at the all a few times, and knocked them out of the way. It continued it's slow pace towards the twin Sailor Moons.

Each time one of the Senshi tried to either rush the beast and overwhelm it, or try to knock it back with one of their attacks, it defended with ease and threw them back against a tree, or into the bushes, whichever was the most convenient landing point.

Among the dozen or so groans from the foliage, Sailor Moon, both of them, could pick out each Senshi. Over there, with her leg sticking out of the bushes, was Venus. Slumped against the same tree, she heard Jupiter and Uranus. She could see that both of them had numerous small scratches and cuts. All of the Senshi were in similar condition. The monstrosity took a moment to look at its handiwork, and then turned to the Sailor Moons and smiled. Deep down inside, they both knew what they had to do.

Both Sailor Moons look at each other. "Ready?" one said.

The other nodded. "Yes! Let's do it!" Both Sailor Moons raised their hands high above their heads, their palms tilted toward the crystal. The beast continued its slow pace toward them.

The Senshi, who were struggling to get up, looked at the Sailor Moons.

"No, Sailor Moon!" Sailor Venus shouted. "If you use the Silver Crystal..."

"You'll die!" Mars finished.

"It's ok," the Sailor Moons said simultaneously. "I won't die." They looked at each other with hope in their eyes. "I'll be fine!"

Prince Neptune yelled, "But how do you know if it's enough? Who's to say that you still don't die?"

Sailor Mercury comforted her love, "Trust in Sailor Moon. If she says she will be ok. She will be ok!"

"But..."

"She will be ok!" she interrupted, "Don't worry." 

"Cosmic Moon Power!" Both Sailor Moons shouted the words like talismans. A beam of pure white light shot down from the sky and into the Crystal. The Crystal pulsated with a brilliant glow before the light radiated from it. Each of them could feel their lifeforce ebbing away, but not as severely as it would have if there had not been two of them. The Light slammed into the last Caretaker. He felt like he was being torn apart, like the very fiber of his being was being picked at like so much thread. He had time for one last rueful thought about how the mighty had fallen, and then he was no more.

The Light hadn't finished it's cleansing of the Caretaker's energy on this planet. It coursed through both Sailor Moons, and discovered which one wasn't meant to be. Then, with twin smiles on their faces, they thanked each other for the help and said their goodbyes. And then, there was one.

***********

A bright flash on Ensign Comataki's screen caused him to jump in surprise.

"S-Sir!" he stammered. He cleared his throat and tried again, "Sir! Sensors have picked up a massive energy discharge on the planet. There seems to be traces of Caretaker energy!"

"Where?!" The General was on his feet, "Where was it, Ensign?" Comataki quickly rattled off the coordinates of the blast. He feared that if he was any slower, the General would have his head.

Parthos wheeled around to his security officer to ready a shuttle and a security detattachment. They were going to go down and investigate.

***********

Prince Neptune forced himself to his feet, plucked the Trident out of the bush he had landed in, and then went to help Sailor Mercury up. He groaned when the dull ache all over his body flared for a moment. He heard various similar noises come from the girls. 

With a horrible thought of the possibility that the Princess had been hurt, he quickly scanned the area for her. It didn't take long. She was standing in the same place he had last seen her, with a sad smile on her face. He went over to her.

"Are you all right?"

She looked at him, her expression never changing. After a moment, she blinked.

"I'm all right. I was just thinking, that's all."

"Well, that's cause for alarm, she never does that!" Rei called from where she was getting up. Despite herself, Usagi felt a surge of relief at the fact that everyone was feeling good enough to crack jokes. She stood and smiled. She was about to comeback with a sarcastic remark when a vessel of some kind appeared in the sky above her. It had no landing gear to speak of. It had odd-looking cylinders attached to its sides that were parallel to the ground. They glowed with a blue light. She knew there were windows because she could see the sunlight reflecting off of them, but she couldn't see in.

The craft landed a few meters away. Squinting, Sailor Moon could make out shapes in the windows. The windows were tinted for some reason, but from what she could see, whoever was in there looked at least close to human.

A door on the side of it opened up and the occupants of the craft filed out of it. 'Marched' was a more appropriate word for it. About ten of them, in neat precision, marched right out and stopped a short distance away from the entrance to the vessel. They seemed like they were waiting for something, as if they were just here to announce it.

Sure enough, after a few minutes, a large, imposing figure stepped out of the vessel. He was tall, handsome, and he certainly had a high opinion of himself. His pants were clean and pressed, his shirt and jacket, from what you could see under the medals, were equally laundered, and each and every one of his medals were buffed and cleaned until they shown brightly, as were his black, miMakotoristic boots. He strode across the clearing with a confident air about him. His expression, from his closely cropped hair, down to his angular chin, was one of total confidence in his position, which, he though, was almost certainly above everyone else here.

He scanned the group in front of him. He gave no outward sign that he noticed their battered appearance. He seemed to be confused as to who he should speak to. His gaze lingered on Sailor Venus for a moment, for some reason. Eventually, he decided that Tuxedo Kamen was probably in charge.

"Greetings. I am General Parthos, Commander of the Expeditionary Force to find the Caretakers of the Emotion, and High Commander of the Infantry for the L'Tari forces. I take it that you are the leader of this group?"

Tuxedo Kamen blinked and stared at him for a moment. His momentary lapse gave Prince Neptune a chance to bark a laugh before he caught himself and restored his composure.

"Me? Oh, nonononnononono. I'm not the leader," said Prince Neptune, "She is." He pointed to Sailor Moon. The Ruby gave him a little idea, inspired by the General's entrance. If he liked titles, let him have titles. "Princess Serenity of the Moon, Blessed of the Light, and Wielder of the Silver Crystal."

General Parthos looked to the girl that the young man with the trident gestured to. _She_ was their leader? Well, stranger things have happened.

"Greetings, Princess." He glided over to her and made a formal bow. "Now, let me be blunt. Where is he?"

Sailor Moon blinked. "Where is who?"

"The last Caretaker. Where is he?"

"Who are the Caretakers?"

"What?" General Parthos was confused, "You don't know? We found traces of their energy in this very spot. You must have run into him."

Sailor Moon gave this a little thought. There was that thing she just dusted.

"Do you mean that little green alien thing?"

That _was_ descriptive of the Caretakers. Perhaps they just didn't know the proper names of those fiends that almost destroyed his homeworld.

"Yes, that could be descriptive of them. Where is he?"

"Oh, we destroyed him."

This time, it was the General's turn to blink. "What?"  
"We destroyed it," said Sailor Mars, "You don't believe us?" The General felt that something was wrong here. How could these children - most of them seemed to be quite young, especially this Princess - defeat the leaders of a horrific force that decimated a whole star system?

"You can't be serious," he said, "How could you have done it?"

Sailor Moon held out the Silver Crystal, "Using this, of course." 

The General stared at it for a moment. When he asked what it was, she told him that it was the Silver Crystal that the trident-boy spoke of. That defeated the last Caretaker?! Impossible!

"you're hiding them."

"What?!" Sailor Moon's mouth hung open in shock. She heard similar exclamations echoing her own. Mostly about challenging their words and having scrapes and bruises as proof of their recent battle.

"Things like that can be faked. There is no way you could have defeated the last Caretaker. You are in league with them and you are denying me my rightful prize!" He drew himself up to his full height, towering over Sailor Moon. She felt truly intimidated by this man. She couldn't even speak because terror had clamped her throat shut. "You will produce them in one of your earth-days, or I will have to take them by force." 

He briskly strode back to the shuttlecraft. Before he entered, he turned back to Sailor Moon, while his men filed back into the ship.

"Remember. One day." With that, he entered the vehicle, and it took off.

Looks passed between the Scouts with a chill. This guy was intense. Significant looks passed between Setsuna, Haruka, Michiru, and Jeff. The real threat had arrived. His name was Parthos.

AN: I am so unbelievably sorry for the length between posts! I promise that the next chapter will be out in under a month, instead of the two months that this one took. It was a combination of things, really, including lack of inspiration, a great deal of distraction by various RPGs, and work. Well, I think I'll take a nap, now. It's getting late and I have to work in the morning. Until next time!

- Prince Jeffrey Kaiou of Neptune


	8. the Search for Revenge and Retribution

10/2/01

Ack! It was brought to my attention that, after I had uploaded this chapter for the first time, I forgot to give credit where credit was due! So, to remedy this sever oversight, I shall do what I should have the first time. Jenn, many thanks for helping me with Sailor Moon's new powers. Couldn't have done it without you.

Episode 8! I know, I take too long to write. Anyway, this episode has been Muse-approved and it's ready for posting. I might re-do the other chapters to fit with Sailor Stars, now that I've seen it. It'll change a few things.

Basic disclaimer goes here. I don't own anything here except Prince Neptune, the Knowledge Ruby, the Caretakers, and the L'Tari.

Now, on with the fic! Enjoy!

Episode 8:

The Search for Revenge and Retribution

Sailor Moon watched the craft disappear out of sight. Once it did, a shiver ran through her body. She had never met someone who could be so imposing. As the others picked themselves up and dusted themselves off, she went to Tuxedo Kamen to see if he was all right. 

"Usagi, I'm fine."  
"No, you're not. You're hurt. And you are too, ChibiUsa." ChibiUsa was hurt, but not as badly as Usagi thought she was. ChibiUsa was mainly concerned about what she had just done. That new power. It was amazing. She could easily match one of the others for raw strength, now, with a little training, of course.

Sailor Venus had different things on her mind. Mainly, she was thinking of the General. He was the man from that Dream, and he certainly commanded a powerful force. She thought that that's what was represented by the giant ants in the Dream. It made sense. Ants are like soldiers, in a way. Just blindly following orders like all mindless creatures. 

Her thoughts wandered a little astray when she considered the General, himself. He carried himself well, with an air of confidence and command that Minako quite liked. She shook her head fiercely, dispelling the thought. He was the _enemy_. She wasn't supposed to be attracted to him! Giving herself another shake, she went to see if the others were all right.

***********

On his way back to the ship, General Parthos reflected on the 'meeting' he just had. A group of girls, and two guys, he admitted grudgingly, claimed that they had killed the very creature he had been sent to find. An enemy that had lain to waste an entire planet. The Caretakers had destroyed his home and killed his family. He only had his brother left. 

Through his anger and remorse, he was able to refocus on his current problem. That blast of energy that the sensors had picked up had to have been something used to conceal the Caretaker. It had to be. But, who had done it? He refused to believe that _girl_ had done anything, even though she seemed to have the support of that entire group.

There did seem to be something more to that one girl, the one in orange. She seemed to have some air of leadership or something about her. Perhaps she was the one that concealed the Caretaker. Yes, that was it. It had to be.

"General, we're on approach to the ship. Prepare for docking, please, sir."

He nodded and buckled himself in. He didn't even register the familiar bump and jostle of docking anymore; he had done this so often. 

He strode through the decks of the ship, making a direct course for his quarters. As soon as he got there, he went to his desk and contacted Special Ops. 

"Lieutenant Sunflare here. Can I help you, sir?" General Parthos regarded the individual for a moment. He seemed like a strong individual. He would do.

"Yes, you most certainly can."

A brief conversation followed. As Sunflare finished speaking with the general, he started making plans for his assignment. 

***********

As Makoto tossed an errant lock of brown hair away from her face, she looked around the fairly empty Fruit Parlor Crown. She had finished all of her homework and no one else was around. The only other person in the store, who didn't seem very bored at all, was Andrew. He always seemed to have something to do. She was wondering if he'd have anything to talk about, but then Minako showed up, thankfully. When Minako sat down, after she got her soda, Makoto started talking and showed no signs of slowing, either.

"So, John took me to this _real_ nice restaurant and...Minako?" After about five minutes of non-stop narration, Makoto finally noticed Minako wasn't listening. "Are you OK? You seem a little distracted."  
"It's nothing." Minako didn't even look up. She was staring into her drink, as if it held the answers she was looking for. Her blue eyes, usually crisp and fresh, seemed to be looking at something far away. "I'm just wondering if we should be fighting the new enemy."

"What?! Of course we should! It's our job to protect Usagi from all things evil-"

"That's what I mean!" interrupted Minako, "Is this General evil?"

"Of course, they're - wait. Did you mean the General, specifically?"

"Um," Minako blushed, "Well, I only picked him because we...uh...know more about him. If he's evil, then we can assume that the people he commands are evil, too."

There was something Makoto couldn't quite put her finger on, but something about Minako's response seemed odd. She noticed Minako looking at her, as if expecting something, and then she realized she hadn't answered yet.

"Oh, well, that makes sense. I think that he is. Why would he be trying to kill us, otherwise?"

"I suppose you're right." Minako looked out the window, lost in thought. What was this feeling? Was there something she was missing? For the first time ever, she thought that maybe her Dreams would tell her something. 

"I think I'll sleep on it, Makoto. It's been nice talking to you." Minako got up and left, leaving Makoto with a puzzled look on her face.

"That girl's getting too ditzy, lately," she said to no one in particular. She laughed at the thought, "A little too much like Usagi."

"Talking to yourself? That's not healthy, you know." A good-natured barb from an equally good-natured voice came from behind her. She jumped and turned around in her seat.

"Andrew! Uh, no, of course not!" Trying to get attention off of herself, she held up her teacup. "Can I have a refill, please?"

***********

Gene Sunflare looked at the great city through his sunglasses.

'Piece of crap little town.' he thought. 'They call _this_ a city?' On his planet, the cities were much bigger and much more impressive. The only impressions this city had made on him were the ones he got from no fewer than half a dozen people running into him on their way to another part of this dismal city.

He looked at his palm-computer, again. It looked like one of those palm pilots these humans had, but this one was hundreds of times more powerful, and it looked better too. Twice, someone had tried to steal it from him. Both times, the would-be thieves ended up with broken fingers. Amateurs. He had been trained to deal with things a lot more threatening than some street punks.

He turned his little computer on and searched for the descriptions of the girls, for what seemed to be the millionth time. He had looked at so many people who fit these descriptions that he was starting to wonder if all of these humans looked alike. He also noticed that he looked nothing like your average human. Standing six feet tall, with a mop of brassy, red hair, and hard eyes, he certainly stood out in a crowd. His heavy muscled frame made him seem like he was carved from rock and the scars that decorated his tough skin made it seem like he was someone who would get into a fight without having to do much to start one. Another thing that separated him from the humans. They were all weak, yet he had specific instructions to be careful around the ones he was sent to capture. He sighed. It was just probably something to do with protocol.

All of a sudden, his computer beeped. Just once, but it was enough to let him know that one of his targets was close. Looking around, and trying not to seem like he was searching for something, he quickly spotted a young girl with long blonde hair, complete with a big red bow on top of her head.

He quickly checked his computer again and scratched his head. She didn't _look_ like the girl described in the file, but that bow was unmistakable. He stood and followed, discretely.

He followed for what seemed to be hours. She went all over the city. She stopped at the grocery store to pick up what seemed to be pet food, for some sort of feline, he assumed, and a small bag of candy, for herself. Next, she stopped by a small shrine on top of a hill, obviously to see if someone was there. Whoever it was, she didn't find the person she was looking for, and she left. Finally, her last stop was her house. He watched her through the front windows from a perch in the tree in the yard.

***********

The dark hallway had the feel of the dream world that Minako had grown accustomed to. Examining the exquisite skill in the construction and decoration of the hallway, not to mention that the whole thing was made from a resilient crystal, she concluded that this was the Palace in Crystal Tokyo.

She looked at her dress and admired the beautiful colors and the fine cut and material that spoke of money. She realized that it was quite formal, which was to be expected because a guest was attending a dinner with the Queen, King, and the rest of the Senshi. She had no idea how she knew this, but such was the way of dreams.

She glided down the hallway and opened the large doors to the dining room. A large table, wide enough to seat two people at one end, extended before her. Almost everyone was already seated.

Setsuna stood near the door, apparently, she had just arrived, as well. Minako talked with her as they went to their seats. At one end of the table, sat a massive chair, obviously for the guest of honor. Whoever it was meant for hadn't arrived yet, so it was empty. Next, Setsuna found her seat, across from Hotaru, who seemed to be about sixteen years old, now. Both Setsuna and Hotaru were dressed in dark colors. Minako was a little surprised to find Hotaru wearing a dress that would fit a more mature girl, but then again, Hotaru was older in this dream. 

Next to them were Haruka and Michiru. Haruka was wearing a cream-colored suit and Michiru had a sea-green dress on, with earrings and a necklace to match Haruka's suit. Haruka, similarly, had a blue-green rose stuck in her lapel.

Makoto was sitting next to Michiru and across from a vacant chair. Makoto's husband still hadn't shown up and Makoto wasn't too happy about it, either. Minako found her chair next to the vacant one and across from Rei, who was wearing a beautiful red dress, embroidered with serpentine creatures, done in black thread, all the way down her garment.

Minako sat in her chair and looked to her right, down the rest of the table. Directly next to her, she found Jeff, dressed in a dark blue tuxedo, like usual, with spots all along the right side, which was very odd. Minako blinked at that. Jeff usually took pride in his appearance, so why would there be spots on his clothes? Her question was answered when she was who was sitting next to him. A small girl, about two, was being particularly fussy about her food. (The children at the table, being impatient as children often are, were served already.) Another swing of her little hands brought a loud 'splat', and a few new spots on the jacket of Jeff's tux.

Minako heard some light laughter come from the person seated across from Jeff. Ami was watching him try to feed their little girl. She didn't think it was that funny when the little boy seated next to her, about the same age as the girl, tugged at her sleeve and whined about not having a roll to nibble at. Minako picked up the basket of rolls and handed it to Ami.

'They'll make wonderful parents,' she thought.

Further down the table, she saw the King and Queen seated side by side at the far end of the massive table. Small Lady was seated around the corner from her father, and she was happily eating her dinner while her parents, who seemed to be conversing, were just enjoying each other's company, stealing a kiss, here and there.

Minako noticed that Makoto's husband had finally arrived and he was getting the rough side of Makoto's tongue for it, too. While poor John was trying to defend himself against Makoto's verbal onslaught, the massive doors to the dining room opened again to admit the guest of honor.

Horror filled Minako as she was who the new arrival was. There was no mistaking the overwhelming size, the confidence in his stride, or the arrogant smile on his face. General Parthos. Minako rose quickly, almost knocking her chair over. She was ready to defend herself, and the Queen, at any time. She saw the other Senshi rise, as well, but not to defend, as she was ready to do.

The Outers, nearest him, stood to greet him! Setsuna and Michiru gave him a warm hug, like one would give a close friend, and Haruka gave him a firm handshake. General Parthos reached down to ruffle Hotaru's hair, which she was little embarrassed about. 

"I'm not a little girl, anymore, General!" she told him.

"General?" he laughed, "We are not in public. Call me Parthos."

She was dumbfounded. Her friends were greeting an enemy like a close friend! She was in for a bigger surprise when he came to greet her. His stride changed, as did his expression and his posture. They all seemed more relaxed, but more excited at the same time, too. It was as if he was trying to impress her.

Swaggering up to her, he took her hand in his. "Such a pleasure to see you again, Senshi Venus." The smile that spread across his face was warm and more than just friendly. Minako could feel only revulsion. 

As he bent to kiss the back of her hand, she fled the dream, back to the safety of her own bed, and she hoped that, just this once, the dream had been wrong.

***********

One ring...two rings...thr - Finally! She picked up! 

"Hi, Usagi!" Minako said loudly into the receiver. "How's it going?"

"Ow. Minako, don't talk so loud. The phone isn't exactly across the room."

"Oh, sorry, Usagi."

"It's OK." Usagi sounded a little relieved. She thought that Minako might have continued talking that way if she didn't stop her. "So, what's up?"

"Well, I'm a little freaked out, actually. I was just going around town doing a few errands after I saw Makoto at the Crown..." Minako trailed off.

"Minako? Hello? Are you still there?"

Minako forgot about the phone in her hand. She just happened to look out her window and she was a man in the tree in the front yard. He was staring at her.

Sunflare was a little chagrinned. He thought he was concealed pretty well. Apparently not. One thing did brighten his spirits, though. The boring, observing part of the mission was over. Time for the next, more exciting part.

Leaping from the branch he was resting on, he flew through the air, and Minako's front window. Just before he landed on the carpet, he tucked himself into a ball and rolled towards Minako. She tried to back up, but he was quick. As he came to the end of the roll, he uncurled, stood, and threw his arm around her, pinning her arms to her side, causing her to drop the phone.

"Usagi!!! Help!!!" Minako screamed. She hoped that Usagi could hear her. 

***********

Over across town, Usagi did hear Minako's cry for help. Putting the phone on it's hook, she bolted for the door. 

"I have to help her." she said as she ran out the door towards Minako's place.

Luna and Diana stared after her. "She didn't think to call the others, did she?" Luna said to her daughter. Walking across the bed to a small device made especially for her, Luna contacted Rei. 

"Oh, hi, Luna. Is there something wrong?"

"Yes, there is Rei. Contact the others and use your communicators to track Minako. She is in trouble."

"Right, Luna!" Rei closed the channel and Luna sighed. Luna and Diana felt so helpless, not being able to do anything. They just hoped Minako and Artemis were all right.

***********

Minako felt powerless. The man had an iron grip.

"You're coming with me, girl," he said. His voice sent chills throughout her body. It was so devoid of emotion, so cold. It made her scream in terror. This was truly a nightmare. 

Her fingers tried to find their way into her pocket for her henshin stick, but they felt clumsy and thick, and as a result, she dropped it. She thought she was doomed. The big, strong man was pulling her towards the door. Thank god for the white ball of fur that flew by her face at the last minute.

Artemis to the rescue! The feline had latched himself onto the stranger's face, clawing him relentlessly. As the stranger dealt with Artemis, Minako dove for her henshin stick.

"Venus Crystal Power!"

The intruder finally got Artemis off of his face, and saw the tail end of Minako's transformation.

'Well, she fits the description, now,' he thought. 'I still have to get her back to the general.'

He moved to grab her again, but this time, she was ready for it. 

"Venus Love Chain Encircle!" Gene found his arms bound to his torso by a bizarre chain that seemed to be made of little interlinked hearts. He flexed once to see if he could break free. The chain came apart like so much frayed twine.

Sailor Venus recoiled, partly due to the lack on tension in the chain, but mostly due to shock. That was supposed to work! How could it not?! Her disbelief gave Sunflare enough time to collect himself and prepare for another attack. He had enough of this little brat. He didn't care if the General wanted her back in one piece; he was going to kill her. He drew a particularly wicked looking blaster from his holster and leveled it at Sailor Venus.

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!" Before he could aim properly and fire, a ball of electric energy flew by and knocked the blaster out of his hand. He gingerly cradled his hand and looked up to where the blast had come from.

Standing on the top of a small hill, so they were silhouetted by the setting sun, Sailor Jupiter was recovering from her attack and the Sailor Senshi were getting ready for one of their own, but not before Sailor Moon delivered her little speech.

Sailor Moon launched into the now-familiar speech, but before she could belt out the first sentence, Sunflare took this as an opportunity and attacked. Prince Neptune and Tuxedo Kamen intercepted him before he could get to the Princess. They worked in tandem, one distracting Sunflare while the other came in from behind. The tactics seem to work well for a while, but after a few minutes, Sunflare caught on and was handling the two of them easily. 

He began fighting defensively, leading the two knights to where he could strike at them easily. Once he found the opening he was looking for, he attacked with ruthless efficiency. The surprise on Mamoru and Jeff's faces was obvious. They didn't think that he would be _this_ strong!

'Fools.' thought Sunflare, 'First rule of combat: Never underestimate your opponent.'

A quick blow to the head spun Prince Neptune around and put him on the ground. A foot to the stomach made Tuxedo Kamen double over. Sunflare brought his knee up and knocked him out cold.

He didn't waste any time in attacking the girls. The two with shocked looks on their faces, the one with blue hair and the one with the odangos, didn't seem to be a big threat. They had emotions to deal with first.

'Emotions just get in the way,' thought Sunflare.

The tall one with the short, dusty blonde hair was in his face all of a sudden. She was so fast, it seemed as if she was riding the wind. Obviously, she had been watching the two guys fighting, and learned from their mistakes. She didn't give him any obvious openings, well, not physically, anyway. When they had appeared on the small hill, he noticed the way that she had stood closer to one Senshi than any of the others. She must be a close friend, or something. 

Pivoting on one foot, away from the blonde's fist, he pointed himself at the aqua-haired Senshi and launched himself at her. She obviously wasn't expecting this, and neither was the blonde. He hit her square in the stomach and, when the blonde was still in shock, he kicked her in the jaw, sending both Senshi sprawling.

His next target, being the closest to him, was a small girl with dark hair and big eyes. He hesitated. He couldn't bring himself to hit a child! The hesitation cost him. A crack across the shoulders from Sailor Pluto's Time Staff sent him to the ground. He rolled just in time to avoid a stab from another weapon, the glaive that the child was holding. Maybe he _could_ hit a child...

Aiming his arm at her, he used one of his last weapons, a small, wrist mounted, net launcher, her caught her and took her out of the fight without hurting her, a preferable situation in his book. The other one was a different story. 

Sunflare drew a knife from his belt and threw it at Sailor Pluto. She deflected it with her staff easily enough, but that took her attention away from Sunflare, which was all he needed. He swung his foot around, knocking her legs out from under her, and while she was falling, he caught her in the head with his forearm.

He did a quick check. Four Senshi and two Knights down, and five Senshi to go. He chose the tall one in green as his next target, simply because she was the only one that was able to hit him. That, and she was still standing. He was dimly aware of some of the others recovering, so he knew he had little time.

This girl was not as skilled as the others had been, but she had spirit. He admired the force she possessed and the passion she fought with. It wasn't enough to help her, though. His expertise in this area, combined with years of military experience, overpowered her. Another Senshi down.

All of a sudden, he noticed that he was on the ground with an intense pain in his shoulder and down his right arm. Blinking away the pain, he noticed the other little girl, the one all in pink, with a satisfied look on her face. Apparently, he had underestimated her.

"Woohoo!" she was shouting, "I _love_ my ribbons!" Sunflare had no idea what she was talking about, but those ribbons must be what was responsible for his injury. He forced himself upright and faced the remaining Senshi.

He barely had time to dodge before the attacks from two of the Senshi collided where he had just been standing. A conflagration of Fire and Ice made quite an explosion and threw everyone back. Since Sunflare had been going that way, anyway, he had the easiest landing. Everyone else landed hard on the ground. Sunflare saw this as an amzing opportunity.

She walked over to the little one, the one in pink, and pulled out a wicked looking dagger from his belt.

"This is for that whatever-you-did, little girl." he said, as he raised the dagger high.

"NO!" yelled Sailor Moon, "Stop it!" She held the Silver Crystal high.

As the light from the Crystal washed over him, Sunflare noticed that he felt he best he had in years. He wondered why that was so. If this was a weapon, it was an incredibly stupid one. He leapt at Sailor Moon.

For Sailor Moon, this was all surreal. 

'The Crystal didn't work?' she thought, 'How is this possible?' She saw her friends getting up, all bruised and bleeding. 'Isn't it supposed to destroy him?' She saw Sunflare come straight toward her.

'I wish there was a way...' she thought, closing her eyes. She clutched the brooch at her chest, as if it would give her strength.

In a flash of silvery light, something appeared in front of her. A sword, thin and curved, with a jeweled scabbard. She took a hold of it. Another bright flash, and she found that she was clothed in pure white. Still a Sailor Fuku, but all in white, and much more simple than anything she had ever worn before.

"I am Celestial," she said. Sunflare stepped back in shock. The report didn't say anything about this! Sailor Moon drew the rapier.

"Silver Crescent Flash!" A bright aura of energy flared up around her and she was lifted up off the ground in an almost angelic manner. She brought the sword down and a silver arc of energy flew outward and struck Sunflare in the chest. He was thrown backwards, into a tree. As he fell to the ground, he thought, 'How could this happen? I'm so scared...'

***********

The Senshi were, more or less, on their feet - Hotaru had to be helped out of the net - and they all crowded around Sailor Moon. Prince Neptune wanted to make sure she was all right, Sailor Mercury was more interested in that new attack she performed, Sailor Venus wanted to thank her for saving her life, and the others all wanted other things.

Hanging back, as usual, were Uranus and Neptune.

"Our little meatball head did well, didn't she?" said Uranus.

"Yes, she did," said Neptune, "And stop calling her that! You know she doesn't like it."  
Uranus chuckled, "I know. Hey," she looked past Neptune, "What is that?" The other Senshi turned around to see what Haruka was pointing at. Sunflare was still there.

"Hey, isn't he supposed to disappear, or something?" asked ChibiMoon.

"I don't know." said Mercury, "Sailor Moon _did_ use a different attack, so maybe not."

Celestial Sailor Moon pushed through her friends and went over to Sunflare. She had to be sure. She knelt down beside him and looked into his eyes. To her surprise, he looked back. She saw so much pain, too much to bear, but underneath that, she saw something else. He was frightened. Frightened out of his mind. She was surprised that he wasn't screaming in terror.

"I'm..." Sunflare tried to speak. He sounded more confused than anything else, but the confusion was accompanied by the fear, as well. It came out in broken sentences, "I'm...going...to die." With that, the light went out of his eyes, and he passed away.

"Usagi?" the voice came from behind her, "Are you OK?" Usagi turned her head to see Tuxedo Kamen standing over her. He blinked when he saw the look in her eyes.

"I killed him," she said, simply.

"We know, darling. You were supposed to."

"No, you don't understand," she said.

"Well," said Sailor Mars, "Then why don't you tell us?"

"I _killed_ him." Sailor Moon wiped at her eyes, "the other monsters we faced were destroyed, or even cleansed. They were evil," She wiped at her face again. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. "He wasn't. He wasn't cleansed, he wasn't supposed to be destroyed, he wasn't even evil! I killed him!" She was crying all-out, now and clutching Tuxedo Kamen.

"Usagi," said Sailor Jupiter, "You had to..."

"No, I didn't, Makoto!" Sailor Moon cut her off, "I didn't! I didn't..." She started crying too hard to talk. The others exchanged glances and decided, through some act of body language, that it was time to go.

Ami stood up from where she was examining the body and closed her computer. She didn't think it would be very productive if she shared her results with anyone. Sunflare was human. She found no trace of negative energy in his body. Usagi spoke the truth. Ami decided that she could tell the others later.

Haruka and Michiru looked at each other.

"She can't fight like this," said Michiru.

"We have our work cut out for us," said Haruka. "C'Mon, lets go home."

AN: I noticed I didn't write as much in this episode. But, I got my point across, which is all that counts. Any questions? E-Mail me at neptune72482@yahoo.com


	9. Dealing with the Pain

11/22/01:ff.net doesn't like me, or something. I couldn't upload this chapter for the longest time! Well, it's here now, and that's all that matters.

My Muse said this chapter was too short, but then again, about three of her chapters equal one of mine. I think she was just noting that it isn't as long as my others. This one is _definitely_ PG-13 for what happens toward the end. Enjoy!

Episode 9:

Dealing With the Pain

Usagi stared out her window with her head resting on her folded arms. It was raining, but she didn't notice. All she noticed was a severe depression deep within her.

She had killed. That was the only thought running through her mind. Every once in a while, tears ran down her cheeks, but she didn't even move to wipe them away. Every fiber of her being told her that she deserved the same fate she dealt that poor soldier.

A part of her mind that wasn't stricken with grief - a very small part - was able to wonder about the fact that the body didn't disappear, as did every previous enemy since she had crossed paths with Luna. The corpse had remained on Minako's front lawn until the authorities came to deal with it. The Senshi came up with a story for Minako to give the police while Jeff and Mamoru laid false tracks for the cops to find.

That was another thing Usagi felt guilty for. She had endangered the secret identities of the Senshi. Another set of tears ran down her face at the thought. These, she did wipe away. She tried to get her mind off of it by focusing on something else.

Outside, she saw Jeff sitting under a tree. He was completely dry, as was the patch of ground he had been sitting on for the past few hours. The rain didn't even touch him.

***********

Jeff shifted to a different sitting position against the tree in Usagi's yard. Despite sitting on his ass for four hours and watching Usagi stare out her window, he still felt fresh because of the rain. It recharged him. He was getting terribly bored, though. Using a little of his control over the Storm to keep him dry kept a little of his interest, but the monotony was getting to him. He couldn't give up his post, though. As Royal Protector, he had to keep watch over the Princess.

He stood and walked away from the tree, into the rain. He stopped using his power and let the raindrops hit him. He smiled as they hit his face, luxuriating in the caress of the Storm. He felt like laughing. This was almost as good as the feeling he got when he was with Ami.

Looking up to the sky, he noticed Usagi still staring out her window. He realized this rain wasn't a rain for pleasure. It was one of sorrow. Using his power again, he was dry and the raindrops seemed to ignore him again. Resuming his post beneath the tree, he prayed that Usagi would feel better soon.

***********

Rei switched her umbrella to her other hand and rang Usagi's doorbell. While she waited for an answer, she looked back at Jeff, who was still under the tree. Jeff saw her looking at him and nodded in acknowledgement.

Rei knew why he was there and she knew how he felt, otherwise she wouldn't be here, but sometimes he acted too creepy for her tastes. Even the way the rain seemed to ignore him was creepy.

"Hello, Rei," a voice from behind her made her jump and spin around. She felt a little silly when she noticed Usagi's mother standing at the door.

"Hello, Mrs. Tsukino," said Rei.

"You're here to see Usagi, aren't you?" asked Ikuko Tsukino. Her face was a mask of concern. She moved aside to let Rei inside as she continued talking. "I've been so worried about her. I've never seen her like this. The other girls have visited, too. They didn't seem to help at all. In fact, they seemed a little more depressed after they left, as if Usagi had worked on them, or something." She glanced out the window. "I wonder about that boy. I know he's a friend and all, but why is he staying out there?" Ikuko put a finger to her lips as she thought of something. "He looks like that famous violinist, Michiru Kaiou, doesn't he?"  
Rei nearly tripped. Of course, he did. They were twins! She started to point that out, but stopped. Just as she was about to speak, she had looked out the window, and Jeff shook his head at her. For some reason, he didn't want her to tell Mrs. Tsukino about his relation to Michiru. Rei wasn't particularly freaked out about the fact that he knew. She knew that the Ruby had to be here, somewhere, and that it probably told him about the conversation.

"Is Usagi in her room?" asked Rei.

"Yes," replied Ikuko, "Go right up. I hope you can help her."

***********

The first time Usagi heard the knock at the door, she didn't answer. She didn't answer the second or third knock, either. Finally, the person at the door just came in, anyway. Rei crossed the room to sit next to her friend. She looked at Usagi for a while, seeing if she'd react to her presence in any way. There was evidence of the other's visits surrounding her: a bundle of food from Makoto which was oddly untouched, a book from Ami, Minako's hairbrush. Everything in the room, including the three items, held a sense of surrender, as if they had picked up on the mood of the room's occupant and given up. Nothing that they could do would bring Usagi out of her depression and Rei was beginning to feel the same.

"What? You're not going to try to cheer me up?" The sudden, sarcastic tone made Rei jump. In the silence, she hadn't expected Usagi to speak. Rei noticed that Usagi hadn't moved at all. It was hard to believe that she had, in fact, done anything.

"I'm just here," Rei said very carefully, "to listen, if you want me too."

"Well, you're going to be waiting for a long time." Usagi stuffed her head in the crook of her arm. Her shoulders began moving rhythmically and Rei knew she started crying. Or maybe she continued to cry? She wasn't sure.

"That's ok, I can wait."

Rei ended up waiting a long time. Usagi just sat there and cried.

"Usagi," Rei had to say something. The silence was driving her insane. "It's been a week since," Rei hesitated. She couldn't mention the fight that had caused Usagi's depression, "Since you've been out of your room. We worry about you, Usagi. We need our princess."

"Who is 'we'?" said Usagi, refusing to lift her head.

"Your friends. We care about you."

At that moment, Rei heard voices outside Usagi's door.

"...and that young man outside looks so much like you, Ms. Kaiou..."

This caused Rei a moment of confusion. Ikuko must be talking to Michiru, which meant that Haruka was here, too. Why were they here? 

The door swung open and revealed that Rei was correct. Silhouetted by the light from the hallway, Haruka Tenoh and Michiru Kaiou stood in the doorway, as if they, of all people, were unsure of what to do next.

"Hello," said Michiru.

"We came to see how our kitten was doing," said Haruka. Rei looked back to Usagi, who still hadn't moved. When Rei didn't say anything, Haruka and Michiru moved to Usagi's side.

"Hello, Princess," said Haruka, "How are you feeling?" Usagi looked up at her with a red-eyed 'How-do-you-think-I-feel?' look on her face.

"You shouldn't be so sad," said Michiru, "You did what you had to do." Usagi put her head back down and cried audibly, this time.

"Why did you say that?!" yelled Rei. She was surprised at herself for acting this way towards the two Outer Senshi, but she continued, nonetheless. "We've been trying to help her forget and here you two come and throw it in her face again!"

"She needs to accept it, Rei," said Haruka, angrily. "If she doesn't get back on her feet soon, we're all lost."

"We're fighting a war, here," said Michiru, a good deal more calmly, "We need her now."

"Get out." Haruka, Michiru, and Rei all looked at Usagi with shocked expressions on their faces. "Get out, all of you!" she screamed at them, fighting to hold back tears. "I've seen too much violence, I don't need to see my friends fighting each other, too!" She got up and began forcing them towards the door. They didn't go without protest, but they didn't resist, either.

Having cleared the room, she locked the door and went back to her spot on the floor. Luna came down from the bed where she had silently witnessed the whole thing. She climbed into Usagi's lap and Usagi clutched her like a doll, just for something to hold onto while she cried.

"Everything will be all right, Usagi," Luna said, "Everything will be all right."

***********

Haruka and Michiru left almost immediately, stopping only to say goodbye to Mrs. Tsukino. Rei lingered a moment to speak to Jeff.

"Why didn't you want me to tell Mrs. Tsukino that you and Michiru are related?"

"Privacy," he replied, "Both of us would appreciate if no one knew I was Michiru's brother. You know, people would be bugging me for her autograph or getting her to agree to an interview, or something."

Rei was about to say how silly that was when a beautiful, cherry red car pulled up in front of the house. Mamoru got out and approached Rei and Jeff. He was dressed completely in black, from his neat, clean shoes to his dripping wet umbrella.

"You two can leave now, " he said as he walked up, "I'll take care of Usagi."

Jeff hesitated. He didn't want to leave his post. Considering that Mamoru was here, she was sufficiently protected, so he left, still using that creepy effect that let him avoid using an umbrella.

"You, too, Rei."

"Oh, um, right," Rei replied, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Rei. Go ahead."

"Why do you want us to leave?"

Mamoru smiled, "Isn't it all right for a man to want to be alone with his girlfriend?"

"Oh, all right," said Rei with a smile, "Just make her feel better, OK?"

Mamoru nodded, "That's what I'm here for."

**********  
As Mamoru made his way up the stairs, he had a run in with a small, pink haired UFO that seemed to materialize out of nowhere and latch onto him with a force he knew that only two people in the world could muster,

"Hi, ChibiUsa," he said.

"Hi, Mamoru!" said ChibiUsa with a grin on her face. The grin soon faded, though, "Mamoru, can you help Usagi?"

"Of course, I can," he said. He knelt down so he could be at her eye level, "but I need a little privacy. So," he pulled some money out of his pocket and folded it into ChibiUsa's little hands. "Why don't you, Shingo, and your Ikuko-mama go out for lunch or something, OK?"

"Thank you, Mamoru!" ChibiUsa tore off down the hallway towards the stairs, but before she got there, she stopped and turned around. "Please help her, Mamoru." With that, she went off to collect the rest of her family.

Mamoru approached Usagi's door and knocked. No answer. He knocked again and got a similar result. When he tried to open the door, he found it was locked.

'She _must_ be feeling bad if she's locked herself up like this,' he thought.

Just as he was about to call out and ask her to open, the door seemed to open all by itself. Mamoru was confused for a moment, then he looked down. Luna was standing there with the Ruby floating just above her right shoulder. he wasn't going to ask how they managed to open the door by themselves. He knew he wasn't going to get an answer anyway.

"Usagi's in there," said Luna. Then, she left with the Ruby floating silently behind her. Mamoru didn't know how, but they knew he wanted to be alone with her.

Opening the door, Mamoru found that the room was very dark. He thought it was quite fitting, considering Usagi's state of mind. She was still curled in a ball and staring out the window.

"Mamo-chan." Her voice was small and choked, as if holding back tears. Mamoru knelt down beside her.

"I'm right here, Usako."

"Mamo-chan, it hurts. I can't stand it any longer." For a moment, Mamoru was afraid that Usagi might want to kill herself, but he knew better than that. She knew killing wasn't an answer to killing.

"We'll get through this," he said.

"We?" she asked. She sounded angry. This is what Mamoru wanted to be alone for. If she started yelling or throwing things, he wanted to make sure he was the only target. "We?! Mamoru, you have no idea! Me, Mamoru. I killed him, and I have to deal with the pain." Usagi was right up in his face. She wasn't outwardly angry. In fact, her expression showed nothing but depression. She rested her head on his chest and continued.

"Everyone has tried to help me, but they just end up reminding me of why I need to be helped. They never say it, of course, but just the fact that they're here, and the look in their eyes...it hurts too much. Mamo-chan," Usagi raised her head and looked into his eyes. He had the feeling that something he didn't expect was going to happen, and he wasn't sure what it was, either. "I need to feel something other than pain."

Usagi reached up, entwined her arms around his neck and kissed him. She pushed him down onto the floor and he was surprised at how strong she could be when she wanted to be. He wasn't entirely sure when she started tearing at his clothes, but when she did, he found that he didn't care.

***********

All across Tokyo, the Sailor Senshi paused in their daily tasks for a moment to wonder what the hell they just felt. It was like a release of energy, as if someone were celebrating, then it was gone. All of them could have swore it was the Silver and Golden Crystals reacting to something, but the sensation was gone too quick to tell. Everyone just shrugged and went back to whatever they were doing. Everyone except Rei. She stared of into the distance a bit longer. To her, it seemed that, for a moment, the two Crystals were one.

"It must be my imagination," she said to no one in particular and she went back to her chores.

***********

On the wall, an old clock ticked. His officers often wondered why he chose to keep such an antiquity when he could have one of the latest wrist-chronometers that could keep the exact galactic time, every time, without having to be wound every once in a while like that old clock did.

Usually, Parthos explained himself by saying he liked old things or that the clock held sentimental value. In actuality, it was neither. The clock was there to remind him. The continuous _tick, tick, tick_ kept him aware that time was not infinite.

"Time is never infinite, old boy," Parthos said to himself. "But with this," he held up what seemed to be a small wristwatch, "maybe Time will work for me instead of against me."

Putting the device back down on the table, he threw his head back and laughed.

AN:You like? I hope you do. Please tell me what you think and I promise to write chapter ten very soon. Until next time.

Prince Neptune


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